I Want to be a Hero, Just One Last Time
by Juggalomalice
Summary: Years have past and Tai, now in college, finds himself alone in his battle to protect earth. That is until he saves a loud mouth girl and her digimon. Now he's getting dragged into one last adventure. A 01 and 03 crossover? Pedo Tai? One-sided Rika?
1. Chapter 1

I think I need to explain this story a bit first. I had this strange idea one day and I asked myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if Tai was around in the 03 series of digimon?" Don't ask me why I had this thought I just did. So I sat down and thought up a few story twists and tie ins so it could make sense and I think I have something that could be a viable story. It'll be a bit weird but I think it'll work out. Just give it a chance. Anyway its just a weird experiment I had that I wrote down so I wouldn't forget. Oh also older Tai with Lv.99 Agumon. I think that covers it mostly.

* * *

><p>I Want to be a Hero, Just One Last Time<p>

Written by: Juggalomalice

It was late and he was tired, so when the blue device lit up signaling the presence of a nearby digital portal the only thing the young man with the blue hoodie that hid his messy brown hair did was let out a heavy sigh. He really wasn't in the mood right now having just spent the last three hours at the college library doing research and writing a report that was still not done. Which meant he would have to wake up early the next day, skip his morning class and finish it since it was due that following afternoon. The idea of beating up some wild digimon didn't really appeal to him at that moment.

His little companion next to him looked up at his partner with concern. Anyone who spent more then five seconds looking at him would easily realize the orange reptilian snot and tail that partially stuck out of the black hood-sweater he wore, but since this was Tokyo no one gave you more then two seconds at best. "Aren't we going to investigate that?" the orange creature finally asked after a moment.

The young man looked down at his companion. "Honestly I'm not really in the mood." He admitted with a small chuckle.

"That's not good. What if a wild digimon comes through? Someone could get hurt. Are you really saying you don't care?" The small creature scowled.

"Hey calm down. I never said I didn't care. I just said I wasn't in the mood." He clarified as he changed course from home towards the portal. When he first starting do this almost a year ago he had to admit it was kind of fun. It made him feel like he was still himself. He felt it over the years. As time passed, as his friends slowly drifted away to pursue their own lives, as his courageous and headstrong spirit of youth was slowly beaten into submission by the demand of young adulthood he felt himself lose contact with the person he once was. That wasn't really the case now. The portals kept opening, the digimon kept coming, and he was no where near finding an answer as to why. Let's not mention that all the digimon that came through were pathetically weak that they weren't even a challenge for him and his partner.

The young man grinned, "It's not like anyone else can do it right?" He said more to himself than anyone else as if he was trying to give a reason to care about this particular portal.

The orange dinosaur next to him yawned. "But it is pretty late. Let's get this over with quickly." He suggested to the young man. There was a nod of approval as they two dashed off.

The two reached their destination, one of the many back alleys of the city. It's only real land mark being a nearby railroad bridge that ran overhead nearby. As they approached the location the sound of combat slowly became louder. They stopped at the top of a nearby stairwell and looked down at the fight below them.

"It looks like someone beat us to the punch." The young man jested as he observed. Before them was a large samurai looking digimon with red armor and a very large sword who was fighting a yellow fox like digimon while a nearby girl with red hair yelled orders.

"Should we help?" The orange digimon asked.

"Naw, it just a Musyamon. Let's see what the kid can do. We'll jump in only if we have to save her bacon." He answered.

The two digimon continued to fight it out. The yellow fox dodging gracefully and swiftly as Musyamon swung his sword at her as if attempting to swat a fly. "That Renamon is fast, but unless she can hit him this fight is just going to end badly for her." The hooded man said. At that moment the Renamon jumped into the air and spread her arms wide, "DIAMOND STORM" she shouted as the rain of razor sharp icicles fell upon her opponent.

The young man simply shook his head with disapproval as if he knew what was going to happen. The icicles hit their mark but simply bounced off the heavy armored shoulder pads of the digital samurai. "Powerful attack, but it leaves her open while she lands. This is really going to hurt." He said mostly to himself. Indeed at that moment Musyamon charged forward and lifted his sword, "SHOGUN SWORD" he screamed as he slashed down at his opponent.

"Oh she dodged." The orange digimon said clearly impressed.

"Yeah, but she's still wounded, see." He pointed out as the Renamon landed a few feet away before stumbling to her knees while holding her ribs. "And it seems her partner is panicking now too."

"Is her bacon in trouble now?" The yellow dinosaur asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Let's clean this mess up."

"Alright!" The yellow digimon shouted as he jumped from the railing into the fray, ripping his sweater off and kicking Musyamon away from his current opponent.

"Wow Agumon. You almost seem excited. Don't tell me you actually think this guy will be a challenge." The young man said with a laugh as he followed his partner. He looked at the young girl and her digimon. The girl had her red hair tied back, blue pants, and a white shirt with a blue broken heart. "We'll take care of this. You two just get some rest." He instructed.

"I guess you're right. Well here's hoping." Agumon said as he dodged Musyamon's attacks. The two continued their death ballad for several more minutes. Agumon was seemingly not trying and Musyamon was getting steadily more frustrated. The young man pulled his wrist out of his pockets as he checked his watch.

"Agumon, will you stop playing around? It's late."

"Oh sorry." The orange digimon apologized before he jumped up and gave Musyamon a solid kick to the face sending the samurai reeling backwards which he followed up with a brutal head-butt which knocked Musyamon on his back.

"Give him a Around-the-World and then let's call it a night."

"Right." Agumon replied back as he grabbed the champion digimon by the foot and began to pull. It seemed impossible that the small orange dinosaur could even lift the larger digimon, but sure enough after a short while Musyamon slowly began to lift off the ground as Agumon spun him around in a circle like a rag doll. Agumon sent Musyamon crashing into a nearby wall as the force of the throw not only cracking the wall, but his armor too. Before Musyamon could even open his eyes he heard someone shout, "PEPPER BREATH". The fireball hit its target with full power setting the champion ablaze. The next instant nothing but a dust of digital data was left. Agumon, clearly proud of his work, walked away and put his jacket back on.

"What's wrong with you Agumon? Were you trying to impress the girls or something? You usually wipe the floor with such weaklings like that in the first minute." The young man teased as he rubbed the digimon's head. If that was the case he couldn't really blame his partner. It had been ages since someone seen them fight and the last one had ran off screaming without even giving them a thank you. _"I bet she'll totally be blown away by our strength." _He thought as he turned to see the two they just rescued.

"Hey no one told you to butt in you nosey idiot!" The girl shouted.

"What!" That was not the kind of answer he was expecting. "In case you didn't notice we just saved your life."

"I had everything under control. Renamon and I were just caught off guard that's all. We so didn't need you're help." The girl rebutted.

"Sure, I guess getting your butt kicked was part of your brilliant strategy right. You're lucky you're still alive."

"Even so no one asked for you to play hero." She screamed back.

"I'm not playing anything. If anything you're the one who thinks this is some stupid game. Come on Agumon." He ordered as he turned around and began to walk away. He stopped at the stairwell and looked once more at the girl who was glaring at him. "You have no idea how close you were to dying today. You're way too weak to be fighting digimon at that level."

If the girl wasn't mad before she definitely was now. "I'm not weak!" She shouted, "You'll see. One day I'll be the strongest tamer out there. Stronger then all those digimon and stronger than you for sure. Just you wait. You'll be sorry for calling me weak."

"Heh, sure thing kid. Keep saying that and maybe it'll come true one day. In fact when you think you're strong enough look me up and we'll find out." He said as he walked off.

"Girls were nicer when you were a kid, Tai." Agumon said as they walked off.

"They were cuter too." He replied before laughing. The bright yellow star on the back of his jacket being the last thing the girl saw as they both disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

><p>Several Months Later<p>

"DIAMOND STORM"

The icicles shoot out like bullets ripping through the downed digimon's armor before turning him to digital dust. Rika and her partner, Renamon, both released a breath they didn't know they were holding in. It was a tough fight. Rika had to use several power-up cards and a deceptive fighting strategy, but they won.

"Wow, that was an awesome fight Rika." Takato shouted as he ran up to congratulate his friend for their victory. "I was a bit worried when you insisted on fighting him by yourself, but it seems like I didn't need to worry. Still Musyamon is a pretty tough character."

"I know, I fought one once." Rika said as she recalled that night so long ago. "He said to look him up when I was stronger. I wonder if it's time now?"

End chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Small update. Have fun.

* * *

><p>I Want to be a Hero, Just One Last Time<p>

By Juggalomalice

Chapter 2

His brain hurt. It throbbed and pounded as he tried to remember the X-variables and equations that were just taught to him. He pounded his head against his desk in aggravation.

"Am I the only person in the world who can't understand this? I wish Izzy was still around so I could copy off him." He grumbled and he slowly rose to his feet and gathered his materials into his book bag. He was the last one out the classroom being to lethargic to move at any speed to would allow otherwise. He was glad this was his last class for the day as he found himself lacking the will to do anymore studying. "I just want to go home and go to sleep. Maybe get some udon from that new shop that opened up down the street."

"Hey, Taichi-san!" A voice cried out.

"_Toyohisa, anyone but this guy." _Tai thought as he face palmed. Toyohisa was that guy who, under normal circumstances, you would never be friends, but you ended up being friends anyway because you had no one else. "What is it Toyohisa-san?" He asked, an ever slight presence of annoyance in his voice.

"Nothing much, but there's some weird girl looking for you by the main gate."

"What, she asked for me by name?" Tai asked in confusion.

"Well not really." Toyohisa admitted evenly.

"Then how do you now she's looking for me?"

"She said she was looking for some retarded looking guy, with a mop of brown hair that looks like a bird made a nest in it, with a blue jacket." Toyohisa answered with a laugh.

Tai groaned in annoyance as he turned to walk away, "Do me a favor and go jump off the roof."

Toyohisa laughed as he followed Tai, "Sorry about that, but you're the only guy I know who fits that description. Especially the part of the blue jacket with a big yellow star on it." The young man explained as he gestured to Tai's jacket. "You wear it almost everyday. Why is that again?"

"It was a gift from my sister for my acceptance into college." Tai answered .

"Oh yeah, you and that sister-complex of yours."

"For the hundredth time, I don't have a sister-complex!" Tai yelled in Toyohisa's face.

"Sure you don't." Toyohisa mocked, "See she's a cute little red-head, probably about 10 years of age. Perfect little sister age for a guy like you."

"Toyohisa, if you say anything else about complexes and little sisters I swear I'll knock your teeth in." Tai threatened.

"In that case, lend me 500yen so I can buy something to eat on the way home. If you do, I'll leave you alone for three days." Toyohisa bargained.

"Two weeks."

"One week."

"Deal" Tai said as he handed his 'friend' 500yen.

"Oh great and powerful Taichi-san I thank you for this offering." He mocked before running off.

"I really hate that guy." Tai admitted with a look of defeat.

Rika didn't get much information from the college students here. Since she didn't have much to offer beyond a vague description no one seemed to know who she was talking about. There was one creepy looking guy who said he knew someone like that, but she hadn't seen him in a while now. So she just waited by the main gate. If he attended this school after all there was a good chance he would pass through here eventually.

She had been waiting for almost an hour and that's when she saw him. At least she thought it was him. It kind of looked him and the jacket was definitely the same. His hood was down revealing his messy hair, but he still looked different. He didn't seem to have that confidence he had that first night. He was hunched over and looked tired, defeated, and emulated that general "I don't care anymore" aura that was common to many college students who had no idea what their future's held for them.

"This can't be the same guy." Rika said to herself as he approached the gate. "Still I should make sure.' She stood directly in his path, proud and defiant, ready to challenge him the moment he recognized her. He approached slowly. Clearly biding his time before he closed in and challenged her. Or even attack her. She couldn't let her guard down. She stared straight into his eyes. His eyes, relaxed and totally unfettered by the inevitable battle before him. Truly he was an experienced tamer. Rika knew she couldn't let her guard down. As the moment finally drew she confidently faced her opponent as he… walked around her ignoring her completely.

"Hey, don't ignore me." Rika shouted, drawing the attention of everyone nearby, including her opponent.

He turned around and faced the young girl, "You talking to me?"

"Of course I'm talking to you. Don't you remember me?"

"Nope, should I? Are you some distant cousin who's come to collect on birthday money or something, because that's happened to me once." Tai admitted.

"I don't want your money, you idiot. You interrupted my battle several months ago and stole my win. Remember now?" Rika explained.

"Battle? Oh the digimon thing. That was almost 4 months ago. Do you really have nothing else better too do then obsess over the past like that?" Tai asked with a quizzical expression.

"I'm not obsessing!" Rika shouted back.

"Sure you're not. That's why you spent several months thinking about me, stalked me to my school and are now shouting at me in public." Tai answered back and Rika suddenly became aware of the numerous people who had stopped to listen to there argument, "Look kid, personally I don't care how much of this whole affair you want to divulge to the general public, but I rather not be in front of my own school while you do it." Tai explained as he walked off.

"Hey, I'm not done talking to you." Rika shouted as she followed him.

"That makes one of us." Tai said to himself as he continued to walk away.

Rika did a half-dash as she caught up to him, "Hey, the point is you promised me a rematch if I got stronger."

"I don't remember promising anything and even if I did I'm an adult and guess what?" Tai asked as he spun around and flicked the young girl following him in the forehead, "Adults lie to children quite often. Get use to it."

Rika rubbed her head, "But you're the only adult I know who has a digimon. They've only been appearing recently and you're a lot stronger than almost all of them. That has to mean something." Rika snapped back.

"Only appearing recently?" Tai questioned as he looked down at the girl before he gave a light laugh, "You really don't know anything, do you? Digimon have been entering this world for over 10 years now. Probably longer then you've been alive and they've existed for longer then that too."

Shock washed over Rika's face, "What?"

"Look kid, your courage is admirable, but you really don't know what you're doing or getting yourself into. I don't even know why you want to fight me in the first place either." Tai lectured, though in all honestly he didn't know what was going on with the portals himself, but he wasn't about to tell her that now. "Anyway, this will probably be the last time you see me."

"What? Why?" Rika asked. She couldn't let this encounter end like this. This guy knew a lot more then he was letting on and to top it all off he was a damn powerful trainer. The person in front of her was totally different then that college loser she saw walking out of the campus. This guy knew what he was talking about. He had confidence, built from both experience and knowledge, but he also had the arrogance of an adult who thought he was always right.

"Because this is my bus. I'm going home and I suggest you do the same. If you're smart, you'll forget all about our meeting." Tai warned as he boarded the bus and took a seat. He watched the red haired girl through his window as her figure slowly grew tiny from the departing bus. _"It was best like this. She was alone and fighting an enemy she knew nothing about. It would only be a matter of time before she got hurt of worst, killed. The digimon coming through are slowly getting stronger and I can't afford to baby-sit a kid in the upcoming battles. I really wish my friends were here, but they're to busy with their lives, to busy with peace to worry about what could just be a random influx of wild digimon. I need to get more data before I can approach them. Enough to prove that there's something behind this." _He rested his head in the palms of his hands. "When did I become such an old man?"

He saw something out of the corner of his eyes at that moment. A flash of yellow across the roofs above him before it vanished. Tai grinned. "Damn kid is taking me for a fool or something if she thinks I wouldn't notice. Well fine. If she wants a fight that desperately it would be an insult to deny her. I just hope she doesn't cry, because it's going to be a painful lesson."

End Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

I Want to Be a Hero, Just One Last Time

By Juggalomalice

Chapter 3

The simple two story apartment building was nothing important. It offered nothing special except a cheap monthly price for college students, single office workers, and the occasional newlywed. Despite what people might think from anime, apartment complexes like this didn't really house interesting characters. No mad scientist, loner detectives, or occult witches here. Everyone was 100% completely normal and that's why Tai liked it. Normal people were less likely to snoop into your business or ask you why your TV was on the whole day, even though you weren't home, and playing nothing but Mexican wrestling.

Even now as Tai closed the door behind him he could hear the battle cry of the masked wrestler on the screen as a small orange dinosaur watched and mimicked the moves he saw.

"I AM LOS TIBURON! And I am...a lucha!" With that the masked man leaped from his place on the ropes onto his downed opponent.

"Keep it down Agumon. You'll bother the neighbors." Tai said as he hit the mute button on the remote.

"Hey Tai, did you bring me anything to eat?" Agumon asked.

"Is that all you think about, food?"

"Nope, I think about wrestling too." the Digimon replied with a witty grin. Tai grinned as he grabbed a nearby hoodie and tossed it to his partner.

"Get dressed. We're picking up take out."

"Oh, is someone in a fancy mood tonight?"

"Nope, I just thought we'd have some fun." Tai said with a grin. He didn't have to say anymore. The two had been together so long that the look he shared with his partner said everything he needed to tell him. Agumon immediately threw on the hoodie as he sat up with new found vigor.

"It's been awhile since I've had one of those." Agumon proclaimed, unable to hide the smile that was forming on his face. With a grin on both their faces, the pair left their apartment and walked down the road to a nearby ramen shop.

"Tai," Agumon began as he sniffed the air, "I smell something."

"That's just the delicious smell of freshly cooked ramen, Agumon" Tai answered back with a knowing wink as they entered the small shop.**  
><strong>  
>The elder man behind the counter looked up from his cooking to greet his new customers. "Oh Taichi, I haven't seen you around in in a while. Do you and your friend want your usual orders?"<p>

"That would be great, sir. Also while you are doing that, may you add two more orders of miso ramen and one order of 'liquid-fire' please?" Tai asked his grimace ever so present. Liquid-fire wasn't actually a flavor. It was just code for, 'make as hot as hell'.

"Oh, are you having a party Taichi?" The old man asked as he began handed off the order to his assistants.

"You could call it that."

Tai made some small talk with the owner as he awaited this order. Nothing important was said though. It was just something to pass the time. The ramen was placed in its carrying pack soon enough and handled off to the college student.

"Remember to bring the bowls back on time for once, Taichi." The shop owner said sternly, but with the hint of a teasing smile.

"Thanks." Tai said as he paid for his soup and left the shop, Agumon at his heel. The sun had already set long ago by the time the ramen was ready and the cool night breeze was a welcome relief after being inside the stuffy shop. As the two youngsters began their walk home, Tai surprised his partner by doing a sudden detour in a direction away from their home. Though stunned by this Agumon kept silent, having long ago learned to trust Tai's judgment when it came to battles.

"I know you may be tempted Agumon, but whatever you do don't look up." Tai mumbled below his breath.

If Agumon hadn't been walking right next to him there would have been no way for the Digimon to have heard what his partner said. Nodding in understanding, Agumon placed complete trust in his partner as he followed the young man down a tunnel into an underground parking lot. The lot was mostly empty outside of the late-night and over-timer worker's vehicles that still rested here. Tai continued towards a central location next to one of the many concrete pillars, before he placed the ramen down, and a casually leaned against the pillar.

"Why are we stopping here, Tai?" Agumon asked as he looked around the parking lot.

"We're just waiting for our guests to arrive."

As if on cue, a young girl with fiery red hair and a broken heart t-shirt entered the parking lot from the tunnel entrance. A tall, yellow fox-like Digimon followed closely at her side. Tai waited until the pair was closer to them before he addressed them. Agumon could already feel the air begin to tense around him. The aggressive intent of the girl and her Digimon were obvious and the orange dinosaur fought with his instincts to prevent himself from charging into combat.

"Did you really think I didn't know you were following me, Kid?" Tai asked the younger girl.

"I suspected you may have caught on. I figured there's no way you'd be that dense, but there was no point in backing out of the plan after we've come this far." She answered back. Her response was filled with confidence and pride.

Tai grinned, "Let's cut to the chase. What do you want?"

"I want a battle! Renamon, Attack!" There was no hesitation between the order and its flawless execution and it was clear that the two were accustomed to being on the offense.

"Agumon, counter and play nice."

"You're no fun sometimes, Tai." the small dinosaur answered with a grin as he dashed into the fight.

As the two Digimon rushed towards each other, Agumon could tell how talented this Renamon was. Talented, but not to experienced based on how clearly she was telegraphing her punch. Agumon easily ducked under her swing as he jammed his shoulder into her. From there, it was a simple task to redirect her force and flip her over.

Renamon didn't stay down though as she quickly recovered and delivered a series of kicks at her opponent. Agumon easily blocked them with a mocking scoff. Though the dino had several chances to 'smack the fur off' his opponent he allowed her to tumble away, giving her time to plan her next move.

"You're fast," Agumon said with a toothy grin as he purposely looked away from his opponent, "But not that fast. Your strength is kind of laughable too."

Taking the bait, Renamon dashed in with a left feint, before driving home a powerful right cross. Time slowed down as the punch connected into the side of the dinosaur's face with enough force to fell a Digimon twice his petite size. For several long seconds neither Digimon moved until Agumon opened his eyes and smiled at the taller fox. Her fist still strongly embedded into his face.

"Nice punch, but again laughable strength. You need 'mas cojones'!" Agumon cried out as he grabbed Renamon by the fur around her neck before pulling her into a traditional aikido flip. A loud crash sounded as the foxes light body was slammed into the car behind them. A moan of pain escaped her lips as she rolled out of the indention she had made in the vehicle back toward her trainer, though it lacked the flare of her previous tumble.

"Rika, I'm starting to think this fight may have been a bad idea." The wounded Digimon said.

"I thought we might actually have to try on this one, my apologies Agumon. Let's wrap this up alright." Tai said to his partner, who with a nod of acknowledgment, rushed once more into fight.

"Digi-Modify: Speed Up!" Rika shouted as she slashed a card through her D-Power.

Tai merely scrunched his brow, "What the hell is a digi-modify?"

His answer came in the form of Renamon jumping away from Agumon before pelting him with attacks from all sides at speeds not seen before. Agumon quickly took a defensive position as he tried to analyze the situation.

"Don't worry buddy," Tai called out, "She may be faster, but she's still not that strong. Just let her wear herself down."

"I don't think so. Digi-Modify: Strength Up!" Rika shouted as she once more slashed a card through her D-Power. Agumon could feel the effect immediately as the annoying slaps suddenly began to hit like bricks.

"Tai, I'm ashamed to admit it, but this is actually starting to hurt and she's just too fast for me to get a beat on. I could really use one of those great ideas of yours about now."

"Yeah mop-head, I'm curious to know what makes you think you're so much better than me." Rika taunted as she watched the fight turn in her favor.

Tai calmly reached into his pocket, pulled out a set of heavy insulated work gloves, and began to put them on. "Did you know that an Agumon's sense of smell is several times stronger than a bloodhounds'? In fact it's so strong that an Agumon doesn't even need to see to be able to find his target."

A cold shiver of uncertainty ran up the younger girl's back, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It is just a random fact. Another random fact, I use to work part time as maintenance here. I guess it's not important. At least it wouldn't be if I wasn't standing next to the main power switch for the lights." Tai commented as he reached behind the pillar he was standing next to and pulled down at an unseen lever. The lights of the parking lot immediately shut off drenching the area in pitch black darkness.

"Agumon, demonstrate to our blind guests what a Digimon who watches 16 hours of Mexican wresting everyday can do."

Renamon froze. Without light she couldn't see her opponent and if she couldn't see them there was no way she could dodge them. It was a brilliant move that completely nullified her enhanced speed and strength. Still she needed to move before… Her breath was knocked out of her as what felt like a ton of bricks slammed into her guts. Before her nerves could figure out what was happening she felt two powerful claws wrap around her waist from behind before gravity reversed itself and came crashing onto her in what she could only guess was a suplex. She was given no time to rest as she was once more picked up and slammed into the ground. She would have felt like she was flying if not for all the times she came crashing down. One didn't have to see what was going on to make sense of the numerous cries of pain that echoed throughout the structure.

"Make sure she doesn't retreat through the side exit." Tai shouted.

"Side exit?" Rika questioned as she looked around. Indeed, in the pitch darkness the red lit exit sign shined like a beacon of safety. How could she not notice it? This small ungrounded lot limited Renamon's movements. If they could get outside their odds of victory dramatically increased. "Renamon, head towards the exit," She shouted as she sprinted towards the door.

It wasn't long before she felt herself being picked up in the familiar style of Renamon's and dashed off towards the exit. It was a matter of seconds before the two burst out through the door into what looked like a drop-off area for supply trucks and vans. The area was fenced off and the gate closed for the night. Though the young trainer knew Renamon could easily jump this fence she couldn't help but feel like she was herded into the area. Like it was meant to make her feel trapped.

As Renamon placed her trainer down, the young girl noticed the significant amount of damage to her Digimon. Bruises wouldn't show well through a Renamon's fur or under the night light, but Rika wasn't naive enough to believe they weren't there. It was clear in the Digimon's mannerism as she struggled to hold her graceful poise.

"I wish we had time to heal you, Renamon." Rika said as she was placed down and turned to face the door they just exited out of, "But you saw it yourself. His Agumon can't keep up with you and out here we have a more open area to take advantage of your speed. Plus, he can't turn the lights off on us." Renamon silently nodded her agreement to her trainer, but she still felt uneasy about the coming events.

_Inside_

"I let them escape, just like you wanted, Tai." Agumon announced after it was clear the exit door was closed.

"Good, now break the door down, but don't rush out there. Stay in the shadows when you do it and try to make it look dramatic." Tai ordered as he picked up the ramen and followed his partner to the door.

"And why am I doing that?" The orange dinosaur asked as he ran his claw over the door, trying to get a sense of its hardness.

"Well the goal is to scare her. The kid thinks she is tough shit and maybe she is, but she's nothing more than a walking casualty by herself. Its better we teach her a lesson in humility then read her obituary later on."

Agumon looked up at Tai, the faint outline of a smile, barely visible through the red light of the exit sign, graced his snout.

"Why are you grinning at me like an idiot, Agumon?"

"Because, even though you act tough you're going through all this trouble to protect a little girl you don't know from the same pain you went through. I guess it makes me happy to know that you still care about people." Agumon confessed as he took several steps away from the door.

Tai flinched at Agumon's words as a somewhat crestfallen expression came over him, "I guess I do still care."The loud crashing sound of Agumon's foot slamming into the heavy aluminum door and causing it to fly off its hinges resounded into the night sky. It slammed into the hard ground, sparks flying as the bent in doorway skidded and came to a rest halfway towards Rika and Renamon.

"Stand back, Rika." Renamon warned as she faced off with the dark entrance way.

Several intense moments of silence passed by as Renamon stood her ground and prepared for any attack that might come at her. It came soon enough, but not in the form that she had anticipated. Instead of fireballs, a single juice can was thrown at her. The stout fox Digimon easily swatted it aside. It was followed by a waded up piece of paper and a half eaten bento, each dashed asunder by Renamon's claws.

"Are they just throwing garbage at us from a nearby waste bin?" Rika questioned as she observed the remnants left on the ground. More garbage was flung out as Renamon easily dashed each piece without a care.

"They're mocking us." Renamon stated, as if to answer the question that was on both their minds.

"No, that doesn't make sense." Rika mumbled to herself. She thought through as many possibilities as she could as more garbage was tossed, including what looked like a white box. _"Isn't that a..." _Rika figured it out all too late.

"Renamon, dodge!" The young girl ordered, but to no avail.

After several barrages of garbage, Renamon had grown accustomed to it and was now reacting more on instinct than thought. She swiftly slashed each piece of garbage as it came at her and thought nothing of it when one white object seemed out of place. She immediately struck out at it and only then did she hear Rika's order. As the container ripped apart from her attack she was shocked to see noodles and broth spill out towards her. The food stuff wasn't hot enough to burn her anymore, but as the liquid splashed her face she immediately felt a burning irritation around her eyes and nose. The broth, stained red from hot sauce in it, stuck to the Digimon's pristine coat and stung her eyes and nose.

"Charge!" Tai shouted as Agumon dashed outside at his opponent. Tai knew Agumons' weren't built for speed and was well aware that a faster opponent could easily catch them off guard. The ramen served as a good means to incapacitated her long enough for Aguman to close in and finish the fight.

Rika was no fool herself. Renamon had reach, unlike Agumon, and with her improved speed it would be easy to hit such a slow target, even if she was blind. At the current speed Renamon's attack would connect long before Agumon would even be in melee striking distance.

"Renamon, he's coming right at you. Power Paw, now!"

Renamon, though blind, followed without question as blue flames erupted over her hand and feet. She could easily hear the Agumon charge directly at her and began the wind up of her kick. She was sure she would hit.

"Power Slam, Agumon!" The older trainer ordered. This command confused Rika.

"_Agumon doesn't have an attack called Power Slam."_

With a rugged gracefulness you would not expect from his appearance, Agumon jumped up and spun in mid-air till his hard muscular back was facing his opposition.

"Spitfire!" Agumon shouted as a powerful fireball shot in the opposite direction. The powerful fire attack caused the small, but sturdy, Digimon to rocket towards Renamon at unprecedented speeds, like a sack of bricks launched out of a cannon. With the added speed, Agumon easily slammed into Renamon before her own attack could hit.

Renamon wasn't sure what had happened. As soon as the powerful attack slammed into her she could have sworn she blacked out for several seconds, because when she came to she could feel the distinct cold of the ground on her back.

For Rika, it was like watching a horror movie in slow motion. She had lost a Digimon battle. No, lost was an understatement. She was utterly destroyed. As she began to frantically review the battle in her mind she came to the cruel conclusion that this guy had won the fight before they even started. Now, because of her weakness, her inability to judge an opponent, Renamon…

"What's with the kid?" The slowed voice of Agumon rang in her head, though she barely registered it.

"She's probably in shock from the lost. Whatever, let's finish this and go home."

"_Finish this? What do they mean? They already won. What could they possibly mean by that?" _Rika's addled mind thought. Then the words clicked. What did she do when she had Renamon finish a fight? She ordered the deletion of the other Digimon. He was going to delete Renamon!

"NO!" She screamed as she spread her arms out and stood in their way, as if to block them. "If you want her you have to go through me!" She declared in such a fierce manner that the older due couldn't help but to flinch a bit at the sheer force of her resolve.

"Oh," Tai casually said as he approached the younger girl with a suave, yet cold arrogance he vaguely recalled seeing in Myotismon, "And what makes you think you could stop me? I won this fight so I could do anything I want with your Digimon. Delete her, banish her, I could even take her as my second partner and train her to be a truly strong Digimon."

Rika looked defiantly at the young man, her eyes filling with hatred and contempt from that last line. Though her eyes were beginning to tremble with fear due to the intimidating height difference between the two she still managed to boldly declare, "Renamon may be weak, but I would never surrender her to you or anyone else. Renamon is MY Digimon."

She did her best to put on a brave face, but even the Digimon Queen had her limits. As Tai slowly reached out his hand towards her Rika instinctively turned her face away and closed her eyes. Though the young girl held her ground she could feel a warm stream of liquid roll down her eyes.

"Tai, she's crying."

"Guess I was a little too hard on her." Tai answered back as he playfully ruffled Rika's hair, "No one is going to hurt you or your Digimon, Kid." Rika looked back at her Digimon to find Agumon was helping her check for severe injuries.

For many years to come Rika would never understand what compelled her to say the next two words that came out of her mouth. Perhaps the stress and fear of the situation caused her to mentally regress to how a real 10 year old would act. Regardless, it would be two words that would forever change their lives.

"You promise?" The 10-year old girl asked as she hastily wiped away her tears.

Tai smiled back at her as he took her small hand in his and took a knee so that he was eye level with her.

"I Taichi Kamiya, partner to Agumon, promise you that no one will ever harm you or your Digimon again."

Why he chose to answer this childish question in such a way, he wasn't sure. Perhaps it was his arrogance demanding he be cool, or the way this girl made him feel nostalgic for his own little sister who he hadn't seen in so many years, or perhaps it was because he had promised long ago that he would never make a girl cry again. Either way, there in the moonlight with his partner as his witness, his words would end up bonding him to this girl for a very long time.

End chapter 3

* * *

><p>Wow, been to long. I'll see about getting other things updated now that I have some time off from school.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

I Want to be a Hero, Just One Last Time  
>Chapter 4<br>Written by: Jugglaomalice

Rika felt stupid.

She didn't know how else to describe her current state of mind and as she climbed the stairs of the apartment complex she couldn't help but review the events of last night, which just caused her to feel even stupider.

After thoroughly kicking her butt, Tai lead them to a nearby park bench before giving her and Renamon a bowl of miso ramam. He didn't say much after that, at least not to her. For the better, since at that time she wasn't really capable of cognitive speech. So she and Renamon just ate in silence.

"Tai, give me a bit of your ramen," Agumon said after he finished slurping up the broth from his bowl.

"No way, this is mine," Tai flatly replied.

"Come on, I'm still hungry. Just a bite?" Agumon whined as he tried to force his chopsticks into Tai's bowl.

"Back off lizard breath. If it wasn't for me watching your diet you would have digi-volved into Porky-mon long ago," Tai shot back.

"The nerve!" With that the two got into a 'chopstick' fight over ramen.

Rika simply watched them with a bewildered expression. It was the same expression she had on her face now as she stood outside the apartment. An expression that asked, _"How did I lose to this idiot again?"_

Shaking the thoughts from her head, the young girl reach out her hand out... and politely pounded the hell out of Tai's front door.

Inside the small darkened flat Tai began to stir lightly form his spot on the sofa.

"I'm not home," He mumbled as if the person outside could hear him. The pounding continued.

"I'm not home," He said with more coherence and he buried his head with a sofa cushion. The pounding continued to echo into his room despite his best efforts to get it to stop.

"Alright, I hear you!" Tai shouted as he threw a nearby plastic cup at the door to signify he was awake. Tai grudgingly got up and tiptoed his way through the mess that was his living room. He stopped briefly to regard his partner, who was passed out with a ramen bowl over his head. Tai had reluctantly agreed to allow him to eat the leftovers from Rika's and Renamon's bowls.

"Lazy digimon could probably sleep through the apocalypse," Tai said with smirk as if he envied the orange dinosaur. As he contemplated this thought the pounding on his door renewed itself.

"I'm coming!" Tai shouted at the door before storming over to it and swinging it wide open. "WHAT?"

Standing outside was a redheaded elementary school girl. Probably around 10 years old.

Rika regarded the young man in front of her. Clearly he was barely waking up. He wore a white muscle shirt and the same pants he was wearing from last night. Also he only had one shoe on.

"It's 11:45 in the morning on a Sunday. You should be up by now." The young girl said in a lecturing tone.

Tai blinked back in surprise, "You again. How did you find my house?"

"Duh, I followed you last night remember?"

"Oh right, stalker girl. I remember now."

Rika scoffed at this remark before she welcomed herself into Tai's home without his permission.

"Oh, come inside. Thank you, I'd love too," Tai mumbled to himself as he closed the door behind her.

"What are you mumbling about back there?"

"Nothing, I was just imagining a world where people had manners," Tai replied with his traditional sarcasm.

"How can you see anything in here?" Rika ask as she struggled to a nearby window before pulling the blinds open and flooding the room with the afternoon glow.

"Aw natural light, it burns!" Agumon cried out as he rolled away to the nearest dark corner he could find.

Rika observed the traditional living room/kitchen combo room that was common for apartments like this. The kitchen looked fairly unused and the living room looked overused. The floor was littered with various junk, books, and garbage.

"Where do you sleep? There's no room for a futon." She commented.

"It's too much trouble to get the futon out. I have a sofa." Tai replied as he dropped down onto the sofa, "Now can you tell me why you're here so I can hurry up and kick you out. I feel like I'm breaking the law just by letting you inside."

"I'm here to pick you up. So hurry up and get dressed so we can leave."

Tai smiled, "Hey Kid, I don't think we've fully been introduced. I'm Tai and this is 'My Boot'," He gestured towards his right boot which he hadn't taken off, "Do you want to know what his last name is?"

"What?" Rika asked, clearly confused by this introduction.

"Up Your ass as in 'My boot' is going to go up your ass if you tell me what to do in my own house again, understand Kid?" Tai violently declared.

"My name isn't Kid. It's Rika. I already told you that."

"Well Rika, you can either tell me what you want or you can get out and let me go back to sleep."

Rika crossed her arms in annoyance, "Isn't it obvious why I'm here?"

"Humor me."

"So you can train me become a stronger Digimon Tamer."

Tai couldn't help but burst out laughing at this point, "For one, I don't even know what a Digimon Tamer is so I can't help you become a better one. Second, even if I did know, why would I waste my time trying to make you stronger?"

Rika was stunned at this as she stammered, "But last night. The promise. You promised."

"Really holding me to that, huh? Well the promise is a simple two step plan. First, you stay home where it's safe and away from me. Second, you let me fight all the wild Digimon. Promise kept."

"You can't be everywhere at once. If you helped me get stronger you won't have to protect me anymore."

"I don't know. Sounds like a lot of trouble to me."

"What kind of lazy half-ass Tamer are you?"

Tai stood up and stretched his arms out, "I'm not a Tamer. I'm an EX-DigiDestined, but right now the only thing I'm destined to do is go to the bathroom. I expect you to be gone by the time I'm out."

Rika began to mentally panic. He seemed adamant on denying every one of her requests. He clearly wanted nothing to do with her, which just made things even more difficult.

"Isn't there anything I can do to make you change your mind?" She pleaded, at least as much as her pride would allow her.

Tai stood up and scratched his head in an attempt to try to find some way to milk the situation in his favor. It's not like his moral code would allow him to extort milk money from an elementary kid though. "Tell you what. Make me some breakfast and if I don't die from eating it I'll hear you out."

"What do I look like, your maid or something?"

"There's the door then. Don't let it hit you on the way out." Tai casually replied as he left to perform his morning rites.

"Damn jerk." The young girl grumbled as she resigned herself to her fate. The kitchen was much cleaner than she expected, but was clearly suffering from a lack of use. A thin lair of dust had formed over almost everything except the fridge and microwave. She did a quick check of the cupboards only to find a single loaf of bread.

"OK, maybe the fridge will have better results." She thought out loud as she opened it up. The fridge offered very little as well and the first thing that caught her attention was... was that a trophy? In the refrigerator? She pulled out the slightly over one foot tall trophy that had a small gold soccer ball at the top.

"MVP, Kamiya Taichi," She read. Now that she thought about it she couldn't help but feel like that name sounded way too familiar. It was a shame she couldn't put more thought into it as she quickly remembered that she had to cobble together some kind of meal for this jerk. The only other things in the fridge were a bottle of mustard, a sliver of butter, and a cartoon of eggs that, thankfully, still had a few eggs inside it.

"I'm sure I can do this," She said, more to herself than anyone else. Heaven knew she wasn't talking to the still sleeping orange lump on the floor that was suppose too be the most powerful digimon she had ever faced.

She quickly threw some bread into the toaster and then proceeded to clean off a pan before placing the butter and few eggs into it. No problem, she'd be done in no time. The eggs didn't seem to be cooking very fast though so she raised the temperature on the stove and that's when she noticed the smoke coming from the toaster.

"Shit, is nuclear the only setting this thing has?" She cursed as she quickly unplugged the out of control appliance. She carefully took out the two black discs that were suppose too be toast.

"It's not that bad," She assured herself as she examined them, "Oh who am I kidding. I can't even make toast right." Rika had been so absorbed in the burning toast that she had failed to notice the burning eggs till that moment.

"Shit."

It was shortly after this that Tai finally made his way out of the bathroom with a towel draped around his neck and a fresh set of cloths.

"Man, a shower in the morning is sometimes all you need to make the start of a bad day seem good again," He said to himself before spotting Rika who was sitting at the living room table. "Oh, you're still here. I take it you made breakfast then."

"Yeah, you can say that. You didn't have much to work with," She replied as she nervously scratched her cheek.

"Yeah, it's been awhile since I've gone shopping. Let's see how well you did," The Ex-DigiDestined said as he took a seat across from the young girl. He eyeballed the plate with its blackened foodstuffs before poking it with his chopsticks. Finally he picked up a piece of toast and began to scrutinize it closely. "What is this?"

"Huh, toast," Rika answered.

"Toast?" Tai repeated, as if doubting the answer.

"Toast!" Agumon cried out as he jumped out from behind Tai and snapped his jaws shut around whole piece. Agumon happily began to chew before a look of disgust slowly came over his face. "This taste like charcoal," The Digimon whined.

"Serves you right you crazy dinosaur! You almost ate my hand!" Tai shouted as he slowly breathed out in an attempt to relax himself again. He looked up at the young girl across from him. At the moment she was avoiding his gaze, apparently finding her hands more interesting. "You can't cook, can you?"

"Not really," She honestly admitted.

"You want to become some all-powerful tamer and you can't even toast bread."

"You don't have to rub it in."

"Not rubbing it in. I'm actually impressed. This whole affair is so important to you that you were actually willing to try and do something you knew you were no good at," Tai mused as he folded the second piece of burnt toast and took a bite out of it

You're actually going to eat that?" She asked in disbelief.

"Well sure, you made it so it would be rude to not eat it. You know, when you get past the burnt flavor it's not that bad."

This idiot was spending way too much time trying to shallow a piece of toast that was barely edible, and with a smile on his face no less, because he didn't want to come off as rude. This guy was so ridiculous and with that over exaggerated chewing motion, it was clear he was putting on more of a show than actually eating.

"_He does look kind of funny," _She grudgingly admitted to herself before accidentally letting out a small giggle. Tai was quick to pick up on her mistake though.

"Did Little Miss. Sourpuss just let out a laugh?"

"You're just hearing things," Rika said in an attempt to cover for herself.

"Nope, I'm sure you just laughed."

"It's true. I heard you laugh too," Agumon concurred as he once more joined the conversation.

"I don't laugh," She nearly shouted as she turned away to hide her face which had begun to burn red.

"Oh, now she's blushing," Agumon teased.

That was the last straw for Rika. She would have to regain some of her dignity through sheer violence now as she quickly spun around and began to yell, "I'm not blush-" but she ended her sentence midway at the sight before her. Before her both Tai and Agumon had their cheeks puff up with air and pulling at their own ears in order to make two of the silliest monkey faces she had ever seen in her life. The action was so far out of left field that she completely forgot why she was mad and burst out laughing on the spot.

"Double monkey face from behind. Gets them every time," Agumon said as he performed a fist-bump with Tai. Tai nodded in agreement as he watched Rika's laughter begin to die down.

"You know, you're actually really cute when you smile, Little Miss. Sourpuss," Tai teased as he ruffled the young girl's hair. "So where are you taking me?"

Sadly due to her intense embarrassment at having lost her composure twice followed by being called cute had caused Rika to burn so red that it ended up toasting her brain to the point that she could no longer remember why she came here in the first place. This resulted in her giving Tai a somewhat blank stare as the college student stood up and put his jacket on.

"Don't give me that blank look. The agreement was you make me something to eat and if I lived through it I would give you more time to hear your request. Well I'm alive and, lucky you, I have nothing else to do for the rest of the today. So let us be off. I have to get Agumon something to eat or otherwise he'll cry like a little girl," Tai jested as he gestured towards the Digimon who was getting his hoodie on.

"I won't cry."

"Sure you will, you sad excuse for a dinosaur."

"The only thing sad here is your love life."

"Oh Agumon, low blow. We promised not to talk about that subject," Tai said as he placed his arm over his eyes in a dramatized fashion. Both shared in a laugh at that moment before the subtle growl of Agumon's stomach brought them back to attention.

"But I guess I am kind of hungry," Agumon admitted sheepishly.

"I'm thinking tacos."

"Where are you going to find tacos in Japan?" Rika asked as the two boys prepared to leave the house.

"I know a guy. Why? Did you want some too? Now that I think about it, is Renamon outside somewhere? Does she want tacos as well?" Tai asked as he left the apartment, followed by Agumon and finally a confused Rika.

"I've never had tacos," Rika admitted.

"Then you are missing out. Come on," Tai insisted as he and Agumon lead the girl downstairs and to the corner of the first floor. There he stopped in front of the corner apartment and knocked on the door. Shortly afterward the door opened to revel a stocky, tan-skinned man with black hair and a goatee. He wore a pair of long jean shorts and an extra-large black shirt.

"Hey Tai, what can I do you for this morning?" The man joyfully asked in an accent that Rika couldn't quite place.

"Jesus, my man!" Tai exclaimed as the two exchanged friendly fist bump, "I was wondering if you have any breakfast tacos left."

"Sure man, I saved some for you because I know how much you hate to cook. I just finished the first lunch batch too. You want some from there?" Jesus asked as he gestured inside before he looked behind Tia and noticed Rika. When he did see the young girl and leaned in towards Tai and in a loud whisper, "Tai I know you've been kind of lonely man, but isn't she a bit too young."

"Very funny, Jesus and yeah some lunch tacos sound great. Give use couple of the usual then and throw in a few extras while you're at it."

"Sure thing, just give me a moment," Jesus said as he went back inside to get Tai's order.

"Jesus works at a car dealership nearby," Tai explained to a confused Rika.

"Is he a mechanic?" Rika asked for clarification.

"No, what you think just because I'm Mexican the only thing I can do is work on cars or something?!" Jesus angrily answered her question as he came back to the door.

"No sir, I wasn't implying anything like that. I wasn't aware it was a sensitive subject," Rika hastily answered back with a respectful bow. The last thing she wanted was to appear racist to a foreigner. Her politeness was answered back with the loud laughter of all three of the men there.

"Jesus actually works with export & imports of said dealership," Tai clarified between laughs.

"But to be honest, I started out as a mechanic overseas," Jesus explained when his own fit of laughter died down. "It just so happens that the company I was working for had just gotten lucky and scored a new trade deal with Japan and as a result several overseas positions were opened up. I was learning Japanese at a local community college and decided to apply for the fuck of it. I never expected to get hired, but when I did I jumped at the chance. I love this country! Great pay, benefits and I can walk down the streets and not worry about the police busting a cap up my ass for not being white."

"But why did you sound so angry just now?" Rika stammered, unsure how to explain the quick shift in the foreigner.

"You see, in America there's this somewhat racist joke about all Mexicans knowing how to fix cars. Jesus here likes to use this to make other people feel uncomfortable," Tai added into the explanation.

"And the tacos?"

"That's just something I do when I have some extra time in the day. You know keep in touch with my heritage and all that. After a while people wanted to try them and pretty soon and had neighbors and co-workers wanting to buy some. A few extra bucks in my pocket, so why not?" Jesus answered as he handed Tai a bag filled with tacos. Tai handed Jesus a few bills and thanked him as the group walked off.

"So Rika," Tai said the name somewhat hesitantly, as if he were testing bath water for comfort, "You never told us where we were going."

"Just follow me and don't worry about it. Everything will be clear in a bit."

"Well I do hope it won't take long. I'm really getting hungry and would like to sit down to eat soon," Agumon mentioned as he followed the girl in stride with Tai.

Tai and Agumon exchanged nods as they followed the girl down a subway tunnel and boarded one of the shuttle. Tai didn't really bother paying any attention to the destination and placed more focus on keeping sight of the small red head. The shuttle ride was quick, taking only about 20 minutes before they departed. Tai recognized the area as a recent Digimon hotspot in the past month and had removed several wild Digimon from the surrounding locations himself. He had also lost track of several portals as well.

"_Maybe the kid's not so clueless after all," _He thought as the pair continued to follow the girl into a nearby park. It was a large park, much larger than the small picnic area that was located near his home. Too large perhaps, as he began to take in the area and noticed lots of places to hid out of the public eye here. She lead them to a reclusive location in the back ends that housed little within sight except what looked like a large play-dome that were popular with children of all ages.

Nearby were two young boys who were busy talking excitedly about what ever youth spoke about these days. They both froze at the sight of the Tai as if he had entered some forbidden paradise. What really caught Tai's attention those was the nearby Terriermon who was playing with a red dinosaur digimon that Tai had never seen before. These two froze as well at the sight of the new comer.

Tai immediately planted his face in the palm of his hand, "There are three of you? I thought it was bad enough with just you, but now there are three of you."

Rika immediate spun around at this comment, as if insulted. "I'm nothing like these amateurs!"

"Pot, meet kettle," Tai deadpanned.

"Do you have to give me that attitude now?" She angrily hissed at him.

"Boop," Tai said playfully as he poked the girl on her nose, distracting her from her anger.

Rika protectively covered her nose afterward as if afraid he would perform the embarrassing act again. "What was that for?"

"You shouldn't get mad so easily or you'll get wrinkles and ruin your pretty face, also, you should have told me there were others."

"You said it was dangerous if I was by myself."

"So you went out and recruited a team?"

"I didn't. It just sort of happened like this. I thought you would approve the idea of there being more of us."

"I'm glad to see you two get along so well, but do you think you can introduce us to your friend there, Rika?" The boy with blue hair and an orange jacket finally asked.

"You can call me Tai," Tai answered, in her stead. With a shrug of his shoulders, as if resigning himself to his fate, motioned towards Agumon, "And this is Agumon." At his introduction, the small orange dinosaur, who had remained quite till now, stepped forward and pulled off his hood to revel himself.

"Your name is Tai and you have an Agumon? Just like the Tai from the anime." The other boy happily said. He had messy brown hair, a blue hoodie, and wore a pair of goggles on his head. Tai felt a bit bothered by how similar his dress style was to this 10 year old.

"I would imagine it would be similar to the anime. Especially once you consider that that character was based off me."

End 4


	5. Chapter 5

I Want to be a Hero, just One Last Time

Chapter 5

"Rika, I'm sorry to say this, but I think your friend over there is crazy," Henry said as he gestured towards Tai, who stood a distance away and seemed uninterested in the children's group huddle.

"He's a bit of a smart ass, but why do you think he's crazy?" The red head replied.

"He thinks an anime character is based on him," Henry answered, rolling his eyes.

"On his defense," Takato began, "He really does look like the character from the show."

"Huh?" Henry and Rika asked in confusion.

"What, you guys never seen the cartoon?"

"I was more into the video games than the show," Henry admitted with a laugh.

"I saw a few of the episodes, but I never really picked it up," Rika added.

"OK, give me moment," Takato said as he left the circle and began to rummage through his backpack.

The two friends waited patiently as Takato finally found what he was looking for and ran back to them. He held up an old 1st edition Digimon card that read "Tai" and had a picture of a young boy with a blue shirt, googles, and a mop of brown hair. All of them looked at the card's illustration and back at Tai, the college student, each noting the uncanny similarities between the two.

Rika, being the residential card champion was the first to speak up, "Where did you get this?"

"It was part of a promotional deal they had for the cartoon. You know, one of those 'send your proof of purchases and so much money and get whatever' deals. There was a chance you could have gotten any of the DigiDestined, but I lucked out and got Tai," Takato answered with a hint of pride.

"DigiDestined, he said that," Rika noted. "Back at his apartment he told me he was an Ex-DigiDestined and not a Tamer like the rest of us."

"You were in the house of some weird guy you don't know?" Henry deadpanned.

"What are you even implying?" Rika nearly shouted.

"They're talking about you, you know?" Agumon commented to Tai.

Tai, in a lethargic manner, reached into his pockets and pulled them out, revealing its empty contents. "Oh look, seems I've run out of 'damns' to give," He then took a seat on ground and pulled out a taco before tossing it to Agumon and then grabbed one for himself. The two aged veterans happily talked among themselves as they ate their lunch, quietly ignoring the banter that went on barely over 10-feet away from them. They wouldn't be alone for long, though, because if there was something that could attract Digimon, it was the smell of food.

"What you got there?" The red Digimon asked without the slightest hint of fear. Terriermon still rode on his back as he too sniffed the air.

"Whatever it is it smells good," The long ear Digimon added.

"They're tacos," Tai answered as he pulled a taco out from the back. He unwrapped it from its protective foil and offered it to the hungry Digimon. The red dinosaur took several cautious sniffs of the item before it took a bite. Terriermon also leaned down and grab a bite for himself. Both Digimon chewed slowly to the new taste before swallowing.

"I think I like tacos," The dinosaur finally answered.

"Me too," Terriermon cried out in glee.

Tai smiled at this and he handed each Digimon another taco. "I brought some extras, because I know how much you Digimon eat. Still I wasn't expecting so many of you."

"They have different flavors too!" Terriermon shouted as he happily stuffed his face.

"Well glad you like them. So, quick question," Tai began, "I know you're a Terriermon, but I don't think I've ever seen a Digimon like you before," He said as he pointed at the Digimon respectively.

"I'm Guilmon," The red dinosaur all too happily answered. Tai glanced over at Agumon with a questioning look to which the Digimon simply shrugged, apparently just as lost as Tai was.

"I've never heard of a Digimon called Guilmon before."

"That's because Takato-mon made me," This answered only served to confuse him even more.

"Do you think Renamon would want a taco?" Terriermon asked.

"I think Renamon would like tacos too," Guilmon replied.

"Now that I think about it, where is Renamon? We haven't seen her once the whole time," Tai admitted as he looked around.

Terriermon answered in between bites, "She likes to be by herself. She won't come out unless Rika's in danger or she's told to."

Tai smirked before calling out to the group of children, "Hey, Lil' Miss Sourpuss!"

"What!" The ten year old girl shouted as she spun to answer Tai.

"You answer to Lil' Miss Sourpuss now?" Takato asked, his confusing ever so evident. Rika ignored him.

"Is Renamon hungry? I bought extras for her as well."

"How many of those did you buy?"

"20, I was thinking two for each of us and eight for our Digimon, but," he waved his hand, presenting the other Digimon to her.

"Yeah, I guess the extra numbers complicate things," She admitted as she walked towards him.

"Yeah, I figured us humans can still get two each, but the Digimon will only be able to have three."

"Renamon, if you're hungry you can take him up on his offer."

It didn't take long till Tai took notice of the shadow hanging over his head. He casually tilted his head backwards till he could see the tall digimon standing behind him and he couldn't help but be surprised. The upward angle he had of the fox seemed to accentuate her curves a little too finely, at least from Tai's perspective. With a slightly agape mouth he grabbed three tacos and passed them up to the digimon behind him.

"I couldn't tell last night, but has anyone ever told you that you are perfectly proportional?" Tai inquired.

"No, is that a good thing?" the fox digimon asked without thought as she took the food.

"It's a very good thing."

Rika quickly grabbed Tai by the collar and pulled him towards her. "Stop eye-raping my digimon, you pervert!"

Tai gave a shameless grin, not bothering to deny his actions at all. "What can I say? All her curves are in the right place. Also, I'm surprised you even recognized an 'eye-raping' face to begin with. You must secretly be a pervert, right?"

"If I didn't need your help I swear I'd choke you to death!" Rika screamed as she vigorously shook the older college student by his shirt like a Polaroid.

Sure, Tai found this girl's overreactions fun, but he was starting to get a headache from this. He had been sitting with his legs stretched out before, but now he decided to quickly draw them in tripping Rika while he was at it. He swiftly caught the young girl while she was off-balance and held her in a cradle like position on his lap. He then placed a hand on her chin and tilted her up to look him in the eyes and with his best smile said, "Sorry about that. I guess I shouldn't be looking at other girls, especially since I have such a pretty one in front of me now."

Rika stared absently at his large brown eyes, his dashing smile, his messy hair which she was starting to care less about, all silhouetted by the evening sun. All which compounded on her brain as her face slowly turned a deep crimson before, for the second time that day, her brain exploded. She promptly passed out and laid limply in Tai's grip.

"Oh, it appears she passed out," Agumon, King of the Obvious, said.

"That's a new reaction. This always worked on calming down Kari when she was mad," Tai admitted absently.

"Well Tai, did it ever occur to you that when you developed that skill Kari was much older than Rika here?"

Tai thought for a second, "You're right. With the way she acts I guess I forgot that she's still just a kid."

Tai was answered by a fist colliding into his face as Rika rolled out of his grip and took several steps away to calm down, making sure her face was hidden from everyone. The punch was more instinctive as her heart pattered rapidly from excitement, not anger.

Tai rubbed his swore jaw. "Keep that up and I'll start calling you Queen of the Sucker-Punch."

"These two seem to have a weird relationship," Henry whispered to Takato, who merely nodded in agreement.

Tai, being familiar in the art of male-female arguments, quickly changed the topic of conversation, "Hey, who is Guilmon's partner?"

"That would be me," Takato answered, a tinge of excitement running through his body at the possibility that this person was indeed the reference for his own animated hero.

"Can you tell me a bit about him? I've never heard or seen of a digimon like this."

Takato ran up and took a place at Guilmon's side, "I'd be glad to tell you a bit about him. Guimon is a digimon I created myself, though to be perfectly honest I'm not fully sure how he came to life though it probably had something to do with that blue card I found that one day. I use to spend my time dreaming about having my own digimon and-"

"Easy kid," Tai interrupted, "I'm just a bit curious. No reason to tell me your life story."

"Sorry, but I always wanted an Agumon, but then I thought why stop there? I wanted a digimon even stronger than Agumon and that's the inspiration for Guilmon."

"I see," Tai replied as he ran a hand over Guilmon in an inspecting manner. "Hmm, larger size allows for more muscle mass, longer arms for reach, and heavier legs and elongated tail provide better balance and streamlined movement. This guy probably runs like a bullet."

"That tickles," Guilmon giggled as Tai ran his hand over the digimon.

"The increased power seems to have cost you a few points in his IQ though." Tai deadpanned. Takato just laughed, unsure how he could respond to the seemingly true comment.

"And his special?"

"Pyro Sphere, it's totally awesome." Takato answered with pride.

Tai let out a low whistle. "Impressive. You should be glad there's only one of him Agumon, otherwise I might consider trading up."

"And that's why you don't have any friends," Agumon snapped back.

"Ouch, sorry I made the joke," Tai replied along with a dismissing laugh.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Takato began, sounding a bit nervous.

"Shoot."

"Are you really the same guy from the anime?" This question quickly silenced all talk around as everyone listened in, curious themselves.

"Yeah, but artistic license allowed them to do some changes. My hair's not that big, I'm much cuter, and things didn't quite happen exactly as they're portrayed in the show. Though even I admit they did a good job in regards to accuracy overall."

Takato scratched his head in thought as the next most obvious question on his mind came up, "But if the show is based on real people and events, why don't more people know about digimon?"

Even as Takato began his question, Agumon was quickly waving his claws in a silent "NO" fashion as if trying to warn the young boy not to step into bad territory. The warning was all too late to matter anymore. The cat was out of the back and Tai's face quickly shifted to a somber glow. A somewhat cold aura replaced the happy one as the children easily figured out that perhaps this question was too personal to ask so soon.

"Because it's easier I guess. It is easier to forget or maybe to pretend to forget. Easier to deny how easily our peaceful world could be destroyed, easier to forget all the people who died to protect that peace. Bit of advice kid, when a gun's pointing at your head it becomes really easy to say you saw nothing and once people start saying they saw nothing, it becomes really easy for the rest to start forgetting anything happened to begin with. After that, it's really easy for some genius in an organization that may or may not exist to say, 'Let's tell everyone it's a publicity stunt for a new cartoon.' And guess what? People will start believing it, because it's easier to believe that than the truth."

Tai glanced around at the many silenced young faces around him. When it was clear that everyone was too stunned to reply he smirked to himself, perhaps realizing that the story, even without details, may have been too adult for kids to hear. He stood up and, with a slouched back that didn't exist till now, suddenly announced, "We're going home Agumon."

There were few times in her life where Rika was at a loss for words. Most of these moments had only occurred recently, after she met Tai. Whatever mystic power Tai had on her, it worked its tricks once more, sucking up her words before they could leave her mouth. She watched him stand up, or transform to be exact. Though she didn't know him for long, Rika knew that Tai was a confident, powerful, and almost arrogant man with an infectious smile that even she found herself suckered into. This 'person' though, wasn't Tai. There was no smile on his face, no confidence in his step, no courage in his eyes. Whoever 'this' person was, they didn't just lose a fight. They were damn near broken by it. He walked past her though without so much as a glance. Like she was nothing and then he stopped.

"Let me go."

The words didn't make sense to her. For she had been still as a statue, unable to even say a word to him, unable to even watch him leave. Yet, without even thinking she had turned and grabbed on to him as he passed her. Her hand, much too small to fully grasp around his own, held on to his, almost in a friable state.

"No," Rika answered, finally finding her voice as her grip tightened just a bit over his hand. She knew that the moment she let go of him he would walk off and she would never see him again. "You said you would hear me out and I still haven't given my argument yet."

"Let me go," Tai warned once more with a stronger tone.

"Dammit, why won't you hear me out? You said you were part of the DigiDestined. Well what if our meeting all those months ago was pre-determined or something? What if it's destiny that you help us?" She knew the argument was a long shot, hell she didn't even believe it, but she had to try.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not going to help a bunch of kids get killed!" He exclaimed.

"We won't. We've already been doing this for a while!"

"Then stop! You all still think this is some kind of game. Get strong, beat the bad guy, become a hero. Real life doesn't work like that. In real life, there are no such things as heroes. "

"That's not true!" Takato shouted out. "I saw the cartoon. If they're even only a fraction as accurate as you claimed they are, then you are one of the greatest heroes ever! Everything you've done. Everything you helped do. All the people you helped save. How can you stand there and say there are no such things as heroes?"

"Thanks kid, but hero is just another word for someone who lived through the war," His hand suddenly tightened around Rika's. It wasn't painful for the young girl, but it was surprising none the less. "Rika, you and your friends don't have to do this. You have no one to answer to and nothing that obliges you to fight in this battle. You weren't taken to the Digital World against your will and forced to fend for yourselves. You're just kids and you should stay kids. Your digimon were destined to meet you, destined to be your best friends. Don't waste this time fighting when you should be enjoying each other's company."

Rika wasn't sure why, but she felt angry. As if she was being coddled. She quickly pulled her hand away at this point as she spun to face Tai. "Don't give me that Saturday Morning Special bullshit! I don't know fully understand what happened to you, but I'm sure it was bad. Either way, you chose to fight in the end. No one forced you, but you did. Well no one is forcing me to do anything. I choose to fight and if you're here or not I will continue to choose to fight, because it's what I do. It's who I am! I admit I want to be the strongest and I will not let you, or anyone else, tell me to take a backseat in my own life."

Tai turned towards her as he once more knelt down so he was within eye level with her. "Rika if you listen to one thing I have to say, listen to this. This is not a game and you are not a soldier. This seems like a precursor to a new digital war. It's slow right now, but it always seems to start that way. Agumon and I are soldiers; at least we are now after all these years. Please, we'll fight the battles. We'll even fight the war ourselves if we have too. Just don't throw away this peaceful life you have."

Though Tai's words may have had a deep impact, Rika was having none of it. She balled up her fist and for the second time that day, punched Tai squarely in the face. "Don't talk to me like you know everything about my life. You don't know anything about who I am or where I come from. So don't try to coddle me like you actually care, you damn coward!"

"If I save your life like that than who am I to argue with methods?" Tai said as he casually stood up and began to walk away.

"How many times are you going to walk away from me like I have nothing important to say? Renamon, attack!"

In hindsight, ordering Renamon to attack the trainer that just finished beating her up the night before may not have been the brightest of moves, but at that moment Rika was simply too mad to care and Renamon was to loyal to question. The drop quick from the tree line came almost as suddenly as the order to attack and Agumon barely had time to block the attack. Nevertheless, the surprise drop kick managed to knock him to the ground.

"Follow up with Diamond Storm!" Rika ordered. The attack execution was flawless to say the least. After kicking Agumon, Renamon used his very body as a springboard to launch herself on air with little energy to perform her special. The seamless combo between kick and Diamond Storm meant one thing to Agumon: there was no time to dodge.

"Tai, get back!" Agumon shouted as he pushed Tai out of the threat range of the attack before bracing himself for impact. Tai hit the ground a short distance away as a huge barrage of icicles collided with Agumon and the loose sand around him, knocking a good amount into the air.

Tai stood up and spat some dirt out of his month before giving Rika a cold glare, the hint of a grin just barely present. "Kid, you're really starting to make me mad."

Rika matched his cold glare, her heart rate ever increasing. This is what she wanted, this was what HE wanted and she knew it. Already she could see the hopelessness he was exuding earlier vanish. Whatever thoughts of failure and lose he had left his mind as he focused once more on fight. He could talk as much as he wants about self-sacrifice and the peaceful life, but in the end he was just like her. He was just looking for the next strong opponent.

The dust from Renamon's attack began to slowly settle revealing Agumon, who was still standing proud after a direct hit from such a savage attack. The orange dinosaur reached for his hoodie, now almost shredded beyond recognition, and ripped it off in the most manly way possible before tossing it aside.

"Did Agumon just make taking off cloths look cool?" Terriermon asked. Henry quickly shushed his partner, being too absorbed in action before him to take time to answer it.

"Agumon," Tai began, "CQC into a Death Cradle, but take it easy."

"What's a Death Cradle?" Takato whispered to Henry, to which the other tamer simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Renamon, keep your distance. We have the advantage out here in the open." Rika ordered. Renamon looked at her Tamer for just a second to acknowledge the order.

Unfortunately for her, a second was too long.

The distance between the digimon was much shorter here than it was last night and Agumon's powerful legs, though somewhat slower in longer distances, were ideally made for short sprints like this one. Renamon buckled as an elbow collided with her stomach.

"Eyes on your opponent, Renamon. Remember that, because I can't be giving you hints in every fight." Agumon warned as he picked up the fox over his head and slammed her into the ground.

Renamon quickly recovered into a crouching position before throwing her own punch. Though the attack was more level with Agumon's face due to Renamon's position, he still managed to easily duck under it before he grabbed her left arm and quickly spun around so that he was facing away and holding her arm over his left shoulder.

"Just so you know, he told me to take it easy. Not play nice," Agumon warned, before pulling her arm forward and down. There was a painful and unhealthy crack which stunned Renamon before Agumon quickly pulled the digimon's arm behind her back, held it there, and placed her in a headlock. He pulled back once more causing more pain to shot throw fox digimon's body as her back was pushed forward and her head was pulled back. The pain momentarily subsided as she felt her opponent release both her arm and head. The relief was but a second before she felt Agumon wrapping his arms around her right leg and pulling her down on top of him. All this was done in the span of about five seconds. Renamon could only describe the experience as similar to being locked inside a barrel and pushed down a bumpy hill. Her body was rolled around and continuously slammed into the ground as discretion of the small orange weight around her leg. After several painful tumbles she was released and allowed to collapse on the ground.

"You are now carrying my child," Agumon said triumphantly as he stood up, with far less wear, and dusted himself off.

"What? How?" Was all the yellow fox could mumble.

"It is the mystery of the dance," He assured her before she fully collapsed.

"She'll be fine in a bit. Just a bit sore." Agumon assured everyone.

"And you!" Tai angrily shouted as he marched over to Rika, "What's the big idea of attacking us out of nowhere like that?"

"Don't act like you don't enjoy battling you big old hypocrite."

"Don't talk back to me!" Tai shouted as he raised his hand into the air. Rika cringed at the familiar gesture, as Takato and Henry quickly dashed forward to try to stop the action, but it was too late. Tai's hand came down and an almighty "whap" was heard. Rika felt something collide with her head, firm but almost sponge like.

"Did you just hit me on the head with a taco?" She deadpanned.

"You're damn right I smacked you with a taco!" Tai shouted and he smacked her again.

Whap

Rika had to admit it hurt a bit that time.

"Why are you so mad? Aren't you always complaining how you have no one to fight but weak digimon? We're both trying to get stronger."

Whap

"Yeah, but I have a reason to fight."

"Are you saying my reason isn't as good as yours?!"

Whap

"No, what I'm saying is do you even know why you want to be stronger?"

"What does that even mean?"

"I'll take that as a no. Look, if you're going to fight you need to at least make sure it's for a good reason. You got guts, kid."

"Rika," She corrected with a roll of her eyes.

"Fine, Rika. You've been nothing but trouble since I've met you, but even if I wasn't around you would probably still be nothing but trouble. I guess I could hang around a bit. Give you a few pointers. You know, make sure you live long enough to figure out why you want to be stronger. Hopefully by then you won't need me to babysit you."

"I don't need you to babysit me!"

"Sure you don't. Oh Tai, please teach me to be an awesome cool tamer just like you." Tai mocked in a badly imitated version of Rika's voice.

"Hey, stop that!"

"Stop that." He mimicked.

"Stop copying me."

"Stop copying me."

Rika let out a guttural yell as she tackled Tai down and began trying to reach his throat. Tai, being older and stronger, simply laughed his head off as he easily held her at bay.

"They seemed to be getting along well," Renamon commented as she slowly got back up.

"Yup," Agumon agreed, "Just imagine, at this rate if I beat you up 10 more time they'll probably get married."

Whap

"Ouch, Renamon did you just hit me with a taco?"

Whap

End Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

I want to be a Hero, just One Last Time

Chapter 5 1/2

By Juggalomalice

Quiet, but not in the way most people would think when they hear the word. Though most people would be enjoying themselves on a Saturday night and Tai and Agumon found themselves wandering the borders of the infamous Red Light District. Neon signs, shop advertisers and "Women of the Night", some younger than Tai himself, all tempted and coaxed the many young men and older salary men into their various shops of pleasure.

No, it was quite noisy in reality. Why Tai thought it was quiet is simply because no kids had bothered him in a few days now. Kids were noisy, so it made him uneasy when they were quiet for too long. He did his best to set such thoughts aside though as he had more important things to think about it right now.

Few people approached the two hooded figures as they hovered deeper down the roads of debauchery. Those who did were promptly ignored. No, it was clear from the two's demeanor that they were hunting, just like every other man here, but their prey was much more dangerous. Tai briefly checked the blue device in his hand.

"This way," He ordered before changing directions into one of the darker back alleys.

"Why do digimon always have to materialize in these dark, gloomy places? Why can't we ever fight one in an ice cream parlor for a change?" Agumon commented in hopes of breaking the silence.

"Maybe Ddgimon don't like ice cream."

"What nonsense is this I hear?"

Tai merely snickered in reply as they turned the last corner. Before them laid what looked like an abandoned construction lot. Perhaps it was suppose to be the location of some hotel or shop until the owner canceled the project due to its bad location. Whatever the reason, it was now housing a thick dome shaped fog. No more banter went on between the young man and his digimon. Now it was time for work. With the practiced motions of someone who had done something too many times in their lives, the two entered the field.

The thick fog cleared as they entered deeper into the void. Indeed the remnants of a construction site greeted them. Supplies of concrete and wood left to rot, perhaps because it would cost too much to reship them, entered their vision and in the center of all that a large, green, carapace-like back with insectoid wings. The massive green mound slowly turned to them to reveal two huge scythe-like claws and a mouth of razor sharp teeth.

"Snimon, a champion level insect type with a vaccine attribute," Tai rattled on from memory.

"I know what a Snimon is Tai," Agumon replied.

"Sorry, force of habit. Remember, they're not very smart. It's likely going to open up with a low fly-by charge before trying to take to the sky so it can launch an aerial attack. The priority is to keep him from taking off."

"And how do you suppose I do that?"

"See that pile of construction supplies just ahead of us? Use that as a take off platform. At a full charge, a jump off of that should give you enough height to get on its back during its initial fly by. After that, just disable its wings."

No more time was permitted for discussion as the Snimon roared its challenge and began to charge, as predicted. Agumon didn't question his partner anymore. As instructed, he too charged forward in hopes that he can execute their plan before it was too late. There was no time for him to fully think the situation out, just to act out the plan as best he could. He hit the wooden incline, brick, brick, eye level with Snimon, jump, hope the timing was right, land, and hope for the best.

"Once on there force the left wing into a downward angle." Tai yelled as he took several steps to the right so he wouldn't be in the anticipated trajectory.

There was an unhealthy crack followed by a scream of pain from Snimon as a wing fell off its body becoming digital dust. Apparently Agumon put to much force on the wing and at the wrong angle. Much sooner then Tai planned, Snimon came crashing into the ground head first and its body skidded across the ground before coming to rest in a tangled clump in the location Tai was previously standing.

"What now, Tai?" Agumon called out from his spot on top of the green insect.

"The base of the skull, right before the first spinal carapace. There should be a weak spot due to the joint connection. Put everything you got into one good strike there and it should be completely painless."

Agumon nodded. Though Tai's voice was perfectly leveled, Agumon could hear the distress in it. He didn't like giving this order and Agumon didn't like having to do it either.

The Snimon was starting to come around as well as it began to realize the dire situation it was in. For a monster insect face with no eyes, Tai was able to read it very well. Confusion, fear, panic, anger… All directed at him.

"Please don't hate us for what we have to do," Tai answered back solemnly.

Tai's reply came in the form of another cracking sound as Agumon's claw struck it's mark. The giant insect froze for a second as its body tried to communicate what was happening to it. The brain was sending signals, but there was no reply. So it did the only thing it could do, it shut down. It fell down like a puppet without strings and in the next second burst into digital dust.

Agumon loaded it without much thought, but even he knew that the data was, as they say, small potatoes. The data load was mostly a formality. Something he did just to remember the fallen. It was a strange way to think about data loading and for a brief second Agumon thought that perhaps he needed a break from all the fighting. He looked to his partner, Tai. He fought just as hard as him, though in a different way. Tai looked like he definitely needed a break from fighting.

"Tai," Agumon began as the two dusted themselves off, "Are you OK? You should know that it was good fight. Fast, well planned-out, and no one got hurt. You should be proud of yourself."

Tai gave a half-hearted grin. "I know, just… those kids have gotten me thinking is all. They way they rush off and are so eager to fight. So proud of their victories. I know we do it, but we do it just so we don't have to always face the truth of the situation."

"What truth is that?" The small dinosaur asked, though in the back of his mind he already knew what the answer was. He had come to grips with it long ago. Doesn't mean he liked the answer. Just meant he had learned to accept it.

"We're killing living beings. What's there to be proud of?"

End 5 1/2


	7. Chapter 7

I Want to be a Hero, Just One Last Time

Chapter 6:

Written by: Juggalomalice

"Time! Put down your pencils and pass your exams to the front. I'll have the grades for you by next week," The Professor announced to the class.

Relief washed over Tai as he allowed himself a relaxed sigh. He had just finished his exam in the nick of time and now that this class was over he was free to return home for the evening and sleep. A favorite past time that he hadn't been able to properly take part in for some time now. With one quick motion he swung his book bag onto this back and left the classroom.

The plan was simple. Get home as fast as possible could and fall asleep before his blasted digivice, or anything else for that matter, interrupted him. He couldn't be blamed if the world went to hell while he was asleep. Plato himself said that you can't be held responsible for any evil that you aren't aware of though Tai would probably agree that the Greek philosopher didn't mean that as a way to dodge out of saving the world from digital extinction. Now if he could just get off of campus without having to talk to anyone.

"Hey Tai!" a voice called out to him right before he could step out of the gates.

Tai pasted a cliché smile on his face before he turned around to face the voice. A lean young man, only slightly older than Tai, with model perfect black hair and an equally perfect smile greeted him. The young man wore a green and white soccer uniform which sported a seven and the name SAKAMOTO.

"What can I do for you Sakamoto?" Tai asked through clenched teeth. On Tai's list of "People I Hate Talking To" Yoshi Sakamoto, captain of the soccer team, was probably number four. Not because he was unpleasant, but just overly persistent. He often bothered Tai at least once a week and always with the same question.

"I just want to let you know that we have an exhibition match this weekend. I thought you might like to dust off your uniform and join us for once."

"Sorry Yoshi, but I told you already. I don't play soccer anymore."

"Don't be like that Tai. Didn't you get into this college with a soccer scholarship?"

"I did, but there were a lot of better players than me who should have gotten it."

"But they didn't. You did though. Don't you find it weird that you got into this college with a soccer scholarship, yet you refuse to play soccer?"

"Yeah, it is weird. Want to know what's weirder? Why they let me keep my soccer scholarship even though I refuse to play soccer?"

Yoshi stopped for a moment to consider this question, "You're right. I never thought about that. Why do they let you keep money if refuse to play?"

"Because that money wasn't given to me so I can play soccer."

"Huh? Then why did they give it to you?"

"To keep me quiet, probably."

"What? Tai are you like in some kind of witness protection program or something?"

"You shouldn't ask too many question Yoshi or the men with the black suits will have to pay you a visit. Ooohhooohh!" Tai answered as he waved his arms in a bad impersonation of a ghost.

The look of uncertainty on Yoshi's face was quickly replaced by his "Captain Hard-ass" face. "You know Tai, for a moment there I honestly believed you had some legitimate reason for refusing to play, but now I see you're just a jerk. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of people out there working their butts off in hopes of getting a scholarship like yours and one of them has been deprived of that privilege because a lazy ingrate like you lucked out on got it instead."

"Can't ever fool you, Yoshi. You figured me out. It's true. I'm just a lazy guy who got lucky and doesn't want to work hard anymore. You know I'm so well off I can eat Kobi beef three times a day if I want. As such I don't really care if I play soccer or not," Tai answered back as he pulled his hood over his head and turn to walk away.

"Fine, be that way. See if I care you damn ingrate!" Yoshi shouted at him as he walked off.

* * *

><p>The bus ride back to his apartment seemed to pass by faster than Tai could remember. He couldn't help but wonder if that's how others saw him. As some kind of arrogant, lucky, ingrate. Whatever, he was home to his messy floor, home to his empty fridge, and home to his sofa that doubled as his bed.<p>

"Agumon, I'm home," He called out as he entered the small domicile.

"Tai, where have you been?" Agumon cried out as he rushed past Tai and out the door wearing his new grey hoodie. "Come on! Why are you still standing there? There's a wild digimon out there with really good stealth abilities. I was barely able to detect him when he passed by. We have to leave now; otherwise I'm going to lose the trail."

"Can't I eat dinner first?" Tai asked as he was dragged back outside.

"No time!" Agumon exclaimed as he took several sniffs of the air. "This way!"

Tai merely accepted his fate with a shrug as he closed the door and followed Agumon on their latest hunt. Agumon seemed to have a good lock on the smell though. In all the years Tai had known Agumon he had learned to never question Agumon's nose. Over all these years, regardless of what type of digimon they hunted, it was never wrong. Since his digivice wasn't picking up a signal he surrendered his trust to his partner's proven technique.

They dared not take any form of transportation for fear of losing the scent. So they walked and they walked. Past the streets, past a small Shinto temple, past the wooden gates of a large traditional estate that read Nonaka, into the subway, and finally ending in one of the stairwells in front of a security grate.

"The trail ends here," Agumon said as he sniffed the grate.

"Well I doubt our mystery digimon runs a local trinket shop by the station. Probably has some phase or teleport ability. Let's see if we can get a digital signal on my digivice," Tai offered as he pulled out his digivice and began to hold I up as if he was trying to pick up a radio station. There was a moment of worry that passed over both hunters faces for fear of losing their prey after almost a whole day of stalking it and then…. BEEP.

Tai lit up, "I got a ping. Just need to calibrate this thing to lock on and… there! Now we should be able to trace it back to its origin." Tai explained to Agumon as they climbed up the next flight of stairs back to street level. "It seems to be close by."

"Ah, Tai. I don't think you're going to need your digivice."

"Why not?"

Agumon pointed up at a building, "Look."

Tai looked up to where Agumon was pointing, taking note of the starry night that now painted the sky while was at it, to see what looked like a huge ice dome that had been frozen on top of a nearby office building.

"I always wondered if anyone else sees these things." Agumon mused out load as the two proceed to their destination.

"My theory is that the effects of certain digital fields can only be seen those who have been touched by the digital world. That or everyone is stupid. Besides that, I can't think of any other reason why people don't freak out over the giant, evil igloo on top of a building." Tai offered as an explanation as they slowly entered the building and began the long climb up the stairs.

"Tai, I know it's kind of our style to be nonchalant and walk really slowly because we're awesome, but aren't you worried those kids may be up there already?"

Tai let out a light laugh, "Oh come on Agumon. They may be kids, but they're not stupid. I'm sure they would see something like this they won't come near it and if they do they won't go charging in like a bunch of reckless fools."

The two shared a hearty laugh over how anyone without lots of experience like them could be stupid enough to charge into a situation like this without a plan. Though they both laughed, neither one commented on how the other suddenly felt the need to walk just a little faster. With their new found speed the two reached the top much faster then either one anticipated.

"Do you hear that Agumon?" Tai asked.

"Yeah, a voice. Someone's talking."

"No, sounds like someone is monologuing to me."

"… but you feel as if you fought with a friend." The voice said. "Hanging out with those guys has made you soft. You should go back to your old self," The sliding doors slide open for the two veteran hunters at this point as they entered the giant ice cavern that doubled as grave, "When your heart was as cold and cruel as this ice!"

"For crying out loud, someone shut this guy up already!" Tai shouted out turning all attention towards him.

"Who are you?" IceDevimon demanded.

"We're the two who are going to break your jaw so you can't kill anyone by your excessive talking." Agumon snapped back.

IceDevimon simply laughed, "You think a child digimon like you can defeat me where these other two failed. Do you have any idea who I am?"

"IceDevimon, champion level. Fallen Angel category with a virus attribute. The bitch form of Devimon." Tai replied.

"What?"

"Everyone knows that Devimon is the preferred evolution start. Better evolutions and no vulnerability to fire. Now, I have two questions which have been bothering me for a while now. One, why do you evil digimon love to talk to much and, more importantly, two, what is it about you evil digimon and little girls? First there was Myotismon and his creepy fascination with my sister and now you and Lil' Miss Sourpuss there."

"Heh, those sound like fighting words to me, young man."

"Oh please let there be a fight," Agumon begged as he cracked his knuckles. "I know you're not the same Devimon that caused us so much trouble all those years ago, but you look enough like him that just the thought of me ripping your wings off is getting me all tingly with excitement. Oh please give the attack order Tai. I know I'm usually not like this, but there's just something about his face that makes me want to curb stomp it."

"As much as I'd like to see you do that Agumon, we have to be polite and wait our turn." Tai interjected.

"Why?"

"Can't you see? The kids were here first. We have to wait till they're done."

"According to those ice sculptures over there I think they already lost."

Tai shrugged, "That's two, but there should be three. Hey Lil' Miss Sourpuss, where's Renamon? I was told that she only shows up when you call her."

Rika hesitated for a moment, "She won't come. Even if I do call her."

"That doesn't sound right. Have you tried already? You never know until you try, you know?" Tai mused. Rika blinked in confusion at this piece of commonly heard advice. It was kind of like listening to a bad PSA commercial when you're about to die. "Don't tell me you want to be the tamer of mister IcePsycho-mon over there?"

Rika looked once more at IceDevimon and at the many monuments of death surrounding them. She wanted nothing to do with any of that. "Renamon!"

"DIAMOND STORM"

The shout echoed out as a large explosion blasted through the ice wall to reveal Renamon.

"About damn time." Tai groaned in a lower voice. "I swear, rookies these days always taking their sweet time."

"Tai, I thought you didn't want the kids to fight."

"Well I want them to grow up at the least."

_["Ice Claw"]_

"But doesn't this put them in danger?"

"Well, yes kind of, sort of."

_["Renamon is… my friend!"]_

"So, let me get this straight. We're for them growing up?"

"Yes."

_["Renamon Digivolve to Kyubimon"]_

"But we're also for keeping them safe."

_["Fox Tail Inferno"]_

"Clearly."

"But letting them grow up like this puts them in danger."

"True."

_["Ice Shower"]_

"So shouldn't we be against them growing up like this since it put them in danger?"

"I can see the logic in your argument partner."

_["I have a plan. Digi-Modify!"]_

"So Tai, I'm kind of confused in what you want here."

"Agumon, right now the only thing I know is that I want to go to sleep. Everything else is up in the air."

_["Digi-Modify: White Wings!"] _

"You worry me sometimes, Tai."

"I worry myself sometimes."

_["Arrgggh"]_

"Oh, check it out. They won some how," Tai said after he looked up.

"Oh, when did that happen?"

"Probably while we were arguing."

"You mean to say there was an epic digimon battle going on around us and we didn't even notice."

Tai shrugged, "Ants to giants, man. Ants to giants."

"I guess we should congratulate them," Agumon suggested.

"Yeah, it is a big step for them," Tai agreed as the two hunters joined the three tamers. "Everyone congratulations are in ord—"

"I hate digimon." Rika suddenly declared as she walked off from the group.

"Where the freak did that come from?" Agumon asked.

"Well she was just kidnapped by an evil digimon I'll go talk to her. By the way guys, great job out there. You could use some pointers, but major improvement."

"Hmm, thanks," Takato replied with a bit of uncertainty due to the Rika's suddenly storming off. "What can you do to help Rika though?"

Tai began to walk backwards so that he could still talk to them face to face, "Let's just say that dealing with girls who have been kidnapped by evil digimon is kind of a second skill set of mine. Agumon, fire escape. Find Renamon and make sure she's OK. She looked a bit banged up."

"On it!" Agumon said with a salute before he dashed off the side of the building. With that Tai dashed into the building to catch up with Rika.

"Hey Lil' Miss Sourpuss!" Tai shouted down the stairwell at the small girl two stories bellow. No reply. Tai groaned before finally shouting, "Rika!"

The small figure briefly stopped to look up at him this time. "I don't want to talk to you Mop-Head."

"Well you don't have to talk, but at least hear me out." Tai quickly replied as he began to descend several steps at a time.

"What could you possible say to me that would help me right now? Some cheap line from an old movie about find the strength to movie forward or something. Can the melodrama."

"No, nothing like that. I just wanted to say, if you enter this door into the main building," Tai began as he finally reached the young girl and kneed down so he was eye level with her, "Straight ahead you'll find the elevator that can take you to the ground level much faster. Now that the ice on the top floor is gone the gears are functioning again."

Rika blushed a bit in embarrassment having not even thought about using the elevator herself. She walked past him into the dimly lit hallway towards the small illuminated elevator control pad, Tai quickly at her heel. The two stood quietly in the dark for several seconds before the ding signaling the arrival of the cart allowed the doors to slide open flooding the hallway with light. Rika stepped and one once more Tai stepped in after her. He pressed the first floor button.

"I don't need you to follow me." Rika said.

"I know."

"I don't want you to follow me either."

"I know."

"Then why are you following me."

Tai let out a slow breath, "Rika, you've just been kidnapped by an evil digimon for diabolical and nefarious purposes. That's quite a dramatic event; believe me I know, but…"

"There's always a but," Rika commented snidely.

"But I know you're a pretty strong girl. In fact, I think you're probably the strongest girl I've met in a long time," Tai said with a smile as he took to his knee once more to face the girl face to face.

"What?" Rika replied in surprise as she turned to face him. She had been expecting a lecture, not praise and why the hell did he have to have such big expressive eyes that so clearly communicated his sincere concern about her?

"That's why I know you don't need me to help you get home. I know you don't need me to help you feel better, but I'm not as strong as you so I would feel much better if, just for tonight, you let me walk you home."

Rika quickly turned away from him in order to hide her blush. She was upset. She should be blushing damn it.

"Fine, but only because you're such a wuss," Rika conceded.

"Thanks Rika. So, want me to give you a piggy-back ride?"

"Do you think I'm 5 or something?"

"Oh, be honest with yourself. After everything we went through tonight do you honestly mean to tell me you want to walk all the way home on your own two feet?"

Rika stopped for a moment to consider this. She honestly was tired and wasn't in the mood to walk.

"It'll be a secret between just the two of us. No one will find out or if you prefer I can princess carry you if that's what rocks your socks."

"Piggy back is fine," Rika quickly replied with a scarlet face.

* * *

><p><em>Front of Nonako Estate<em>

The walk back had been quiet. There was no need for small talk. Tai knew that Rika didn't need a conversation right now. What she needed was to calm down and get some rest. Piggy back rides over long distances were ideal for this. That's what Tai's big brother training had taught him at least.

With younger sibling pressed up so closely to ones back it took just a little bit of skill to hear their heartbeat and Rika's heartbeat was quite frantic. It was to be expected and that's why Tai was so glad that it had slowed down considerably by the time he reached the gate to her home. He was pretty sure she had fallen asleep on the trip

"Home sweet home, Princess," Tai gently called out and he lightly shook the girl awake. Yup, totally asleep.

"I'm no princess. I'm a queen. A Digimon Queen," She replied in a drowsy tone.

"A queen? Doesn't that imply there's a king somewhere?"

"Why do you ask? Are you looking to apply for the position?"

"_Does that count as a pass? Did a half asleep elementary girl make a pass at me?" _Tai thought.

"I think you're still half asleep," He answered as he put the small girl down. She yawned some of the sleep away as she rubbed her eyes a bit. "Hey Rika, before we part for tonight. I just want to say, sorry."

Rika began to wake up a bit more at this point, "Sorry for what? Being an idiot?"

"No, sorry for not being there to keep you safe like I promised I would. Sadly, you're not the first girl I've let down."

"You're still on about that? I already told you that I hate digimon so you don't have to worry about this anymore. You don't have to worry about keeping your stupid promise." She assured him.

"Doesn't matter. A promise is a promise and I'll try to do better next time. Not that I hope there is a next time. Just…" He trailed off a bit.

"I think I get it Mop-Head. You're concern is unneeded, but I get it."

Tai reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a scrape a paper & pen, scribbled something on it, and handled towards Rika. "Here, I want you to have this. In case of emergency."

"What is this?"

"It's my cell phone number. If you need me just call, OK?"

"I told you I don't need your help nor do I wa—"

"Boop." Tai interrupted as he pressed her nose.

"What was that for?" Rika said as she once again guarded her nose.

Tai gave her a warm smile as he gently pushed some loose strands of her hair back behind her ear, "That was the button that makes you accept my help with no questions, simply because Tai is a wuss who would worry about you otherwise."

"You are so annoying sometimes. Fine, but it's not like I care what you do."

"Good night to you too, Rika."

"Whatever." She grumbled as she closed the wooden door behind her. She was upset, that hadn't changed and she was sure she still hated digimon, but at the same time, as she stared at the phone number in her hand she couldn't help but feel a tingle in her stomach. "I hate that jackass so much." She growled as she walked into her house.

She didn't announce her presence to the house and quickly darted past the hallway before her grandmother could call her. She made a bee line straight for her room and allowed herself to flop on her bed. She stared once more at the piece of paper in her hand.

Tai Kamiya

xxxxxxx

Rika growled in frustration as she quickly fiddled with her phone before putting it aside on her desk so she could change her cloths. The phone display read:

MOPHEAD

XXX-XXXX

End Chapter 6

* * *

><p>Author Notes:<p>

Enjoy, wrote this pretty quickly in on honestly. Started sometime around midnight here I think. One of the fastest updates in ages. I think questions are slowly be answered as well. It's not a story if I tell you everything in one sitting, right? Anyway, I guess rewatching the carton forces the writing juices out. This was suppose to cover several episodes, but it just kind of kept going and only episode 10 was covered. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I have the 1st revisions for the past chapters and those will probably be posted when I wake up. This story will be submitted for revision around the same time. I usually do several revisions before posting, but for some reason I just want to get this story out there while it's fresh in my mind. I'm going to do my best to follow the canon from now on, but as you can guess that creates the problem of trying to write Tai into situations where he never existed. I think it's working well so far. Do let me know what you think so far in the comments as this type of story telling, that which follows or retells a series, isn't really my favorite form so I have little experience with it. Remember, if two weeks pass without an update feel free to send me a pm on here or facebook reminding me to get back to work. I'm easily distracted and I honestly love hearing from readers. My irl friends never read my works regardless of how much I hassle them, lol.


	8. Chapter 8

A.N – Just something I feel like I should say before hand. Unless the event is mentioned in the story all other events are assumed to have occurred naturally according to the canon. This is important as I don't actually want to write a chapter for every episode. I'll do my best to provide insight and important information so everything makes sense, but don't be expecting a full retelling of the series episode by episode. If you need additional information or would just like a basic recap please visit the digimon wiki for a synopsis of the episodes. If you would like a link to where you can find the episodes online or similar please contact me via PM and I would be happy to share it with you.

* * *

><p>I want to be a Hero, just One Last Time<p>

Written by: Juggalomalice

Chapter 8

_Shinjuku Oogado Crossing_

Henry tried his best to ignore the number of stares he was getting from people as he crossed the overwalk bridge. Apparently the sight of a middle school boy with his cute, fluffy digimon toy was just too much to not notice by most people.

"You know," Henry began, "This is the reason why I didn't want to bring you with me, Terriermon."

"But if I say home 'this and that'" The rabbit like digimon assured his partner.

"I know, but it's still embarrassing."

"Hey, what's with this fog?" A nearby citizen asked. Already a small number of people on the bridge had gathered in notice of the peculiar weather activity.

"A digimon is coming." Henry frowned at hearing this as he distained the thought of having to see his friend fight. Though he was willing to help protect his friends in a fight, the idea of Terriermon becoming some battle hungry monster wasn't one he enjoyed entertaining.

Already the thick fog of a digital field was setting in the lower roadway. "Come on Henry. We have to get down there and stop that digimon before it hurts someone." Terriermon stated as he hopped off Henry's head and dashed down the stairs.

"Terriermon wait!" The young boy shouted as he gave chase before finally catching Terriermon by one of his long ears.

"What are you doing Henery?" the small digimon whined.

"We're not fighting. We're going home."

"But Henry, we have to do something."

"No we don't. It's not our problem."

"But I want to fight," The rabbit digimon said in final defiance.

"Well I don't want you to fight," Henry argued as the fog suddenly dissipated. "Huh, the field cleared itself?"

"It would appear that way to some." A voice said from behind the boy and his digimon, causing both to whip back behind them. Standing just a few steps above stood a young man with a blue hood pulled over his head. At his side was a much shorter figure dressed in a similar style jacket.

"T-Tai?" Henry asked with some mild hesitation. Though he had seen the college student act in immature ways, he couldn't help but admit that when he had his hood up like that, there was just something… foreboding about him.

"That's the third field I've tracked this week that just happened to clear itself," Tai continued, not missing a beat. "But D-fields don't clear themselves. Someone is tampering with the network."

"The Network?" Henry asked in confusion.

"It's just a generic term I use to refer to the means that digimon use to transverse the portals that connect our worlds. However digimon manage it, something, or someone to be more specific," Tai's voice darkened a bit when he said that, "Is stopping them before they can 'realize' inside our world."

Henry glanced back at the crowded crosswalk where the fog had been just a moment ago. Now that it was cleared people were acting like it never happened.

"Then what's going to happen? Will we have to keep fighting?"

"What's going too happen? The same thing the digital world always does when a new variable enters the equation. It's going to gather data, adapted, and evolve," Tai answered as he took several steps down before leaning down a bit so that his face was side by side with Henry's, "and when that happens the portals will open up again and we're going to have a lot of pissed of digimon waiting for us on the other side."

"Isn't there anything we can do to stop it?" Henry asked.

"Nope, not from this side at least. For now the only thing we can do is fight and hold them at bay."

"Is fighting the only way?"

"Hmm, well I understand your concern kid—"

"Henry." The young boy corrected automatically.

"Well Henry, I understand your concern. It's much safer to not fight and in all honestly if you don't want to fight you don't have too."

"I don't?"

"Nope, you have a choice, but friendly word of advice from an old man," Tai said and he descended the stairs past Henry, "If you don't want to fight, don't get in the way of those who do." The thought that one day he might be nothing more than an obstacle to his friends caused Henry to flinch.

"Wait," He called out to the two figures that were now directly beneath him, "How did… How did you make the choice that you wanted to fight?" Tai stopped once more and he looked up a Henry. The shadowy grin on his face sending a shiver up the youngster's back for reasons he couldn't understand.

"That's cute Kid, you actually think we had the same opportunities you do. Of the seven children who made up the original Digi-Destined none of them were asked if they wanted to fight. In fact, none of them were even given the choice to begin with."

"Sometimes he comes off as really scary." Terriermon commented as the older pair walked off.

"You picked up on that too, huh?" Henry asked as he forced a smile on his face. "Come one, let's go home."

"Henry?" Terriermon asked after a short distance of silence.

"What is it?"

"You know in the Digi-World digimon fought all the time?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to fight here, in the real world. Even Tai said it. We can choose not to fight if we don't want to."

"Yeah, but what if a time comes when we're the only ones who can fight? Would it be right of us to choose not to?" the small digimon innocently asked.

"I…" Henry stopped as he trailed off in thought, "I'm not sure."

* * *

><p><em>Shinjuku Oogado Crossing, the next afternoon<em>

Tia didn't have college classes every day and his life mostly revolved around four things only. When arranged by the amount of time they consumed in his life they were school, digimon, sleep, and food. In fact, as his digimon workload increased he had actually taken steps to lighten his school schedule so he could devote more time to patrolling the city for wild digimon.

"Tai," Agumon began as he kept watch over a D-Field that had manifested in the same place as yesterday from nearby crossing bridge, "I've been thinking."

"Does it have anything to do with why you insisted that we stay here on the bridge to keep watch instead of fighting?"

"Well, I just don't think those four need our help." Already they had watched Takato and Guilmon rush into the field followed by Henry and Terriermon shortly afterwards, who had entered in order to stop a little girl who had chased her balloon onto the field."

"_I swear this whole city just has shitty parents." _Tai thought as he watched the little girl just waltz into danger and not a single adult witnessed it.

"Well you can't blame me for worrying." Tai finally spoke out after several painfully silent seconds. "You've seen it yourself. They don't even know if this is the kind of life they want. We can't have them going into this sort of thing if they're half-hearted and at the same time I don't want them to feel like they have no choice in the matter."

"Well I guess that's a mature way to approach it, but what about us? What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Is this the life you want?"

A small twitch appeared in Tai's eye, "Agumon, this isn't the time to be talking about this sort of thing. Also, don't you think they've been in there to long?"

"Just believe in them Tai." Agumon pleaded.

Tai agreed, but it went against his better judgment. He felt useless standing up here away from the action, but finally after several more minutes something amazing happened. The D-Field broke down on it's own as four figures dashed away from it. They even managed to rescue the little girl and bring her back to her mother without even being seen.

"Tai did you see that? They did it and all on their own."

"Yeah, they really did. I'm impressed."

"This actually has to do with what I've been thinking about. Hear me out Tai. Those Tamer kids beat us to just about ever portal we go to and you must have noticed it too, but digimon attacks and damages are at an all time low. We've had a lot more free time now than we've had before."

"Still not enough if you ask me and that may have to do with me lightening up my class schedule." Tai countered.

Agumon was not deterred from his argument though, "But even if they have some reservations I have no doubts that those children have what it takes to be great Tamers. We've already seen them accomplish so much. For crying out load, I think we've seen enough to prove that they don't need our help."

"So what are you getting at Agumon?"

"Well, don't you think it's time for us to retire?"

"Retire?" Tai choked out in shock as he turned away from the excitement. "That's crazy talk Agumon."

"But think about it. It would be great. I'm not saying abandon the good fight. I'm just saying, maybe we should take a back seat and let those kids have their spotlight. Just imagine. No more late night patrols."

"No more chasing digimon through the night." Tai added as he began to imagine the future.

"I can stay home all day and watch wrestling and catch up on anime." Agumon continued, growing ever more excited.

"And I can finally focused on school and bring my grades up."

"Well, it's not like you're failing."

"Yeah, better grades won't hurt. Who knows, maybe I can finally take Izzy up on that offer to help him set up that tech business he wanted to start."

"And then you could get a girlfriend."

"And visit Kari again."

"And the rest of your family for that matter." Agumon giddily added.

"Yeah, you're right!" Tai said with new found determination. "Let the kids worry about the fighting."

"Yeah, a peaceful life without fighting digimon—" Agumon began.

"Sound great!" Tai finished as the two friends burst into laughing.

* * *

><p>Just around the corner two young women were in the process of saying goodbye after being reunited for the first time in almost a year. The shorter one had short light brown hair and wore glasses. Her cloths, and figure, seemed dull when compared to her taller friend who wore a plaid mini-skirt and long sleeve blouse in reminiscent of the school girl fashion, but it was plain to tell by her hips and impressive bust that she was no school girl anymore. Her most prominent feature was her red hair, which was so big and spiky that many who didn't know better would consider her Tai's sister.<p>

"Oh I missed you so much, Chizuru." The big haired girl said as they exchanged a farewell hug.

"You too, Jun. How long will you be in town?" The glasses girl name Chizuru asked.

"Till next Monday just to visit family."

"That's great. How about I call Momoe up and all three of us can spend some time together, just like the old days."

"That would be great, thanks Chizuru."

"No problem." Chizuru said as the two friends exchanged and updated their contact information before saying their final goodbyes.

Jun Motomiya was super happy. Finally visiting her home town and being reunited with old friends and family. There was no way this day could get any better she thought as she turned the corner to see a young man around her age talking joyfully with a midget in a hooded jacket.

"Sound great!" Tai finished as the two friends burst into laughing.

Jun froze in her tracks. There was no way this could be true. After so many years.

"Tai?" She asked as the young man turned towards her and stared at her in confusion.

"Jun?"

"And Agumon too?" She questioned as she stared at the poorly disguised orange digimon.

Tai had nothing against Jun personally. It's just that past events made him feel awkward around her. Unfortunately for Tai, Jun's shock resided faster than the young man's flight instinct could kick in and he soon found himself in a tight hug. Tai wasn't just shocked. He was petrified. Powerless to stop this young woman from clinging onto him like he was some close personal friend, yet he couldn't push her away. She not only looked nice, she smelled nice. She felt nice. THIS FELT NICE. It had been so long since he had ever been hugged that Tai couldn't help but lower his guard at this strange sense of reassurance. Before he knew it, he was hugging her back. There was only one other time in his life where he had ever hugged this girl like this, but now wasn't the time to remember that.

The next hour or so was a blur to Tai as he and Agumon were dragged to a nearby open-air coffee shop. The two were forced to accept Jun's treat as they played catch up. The two young adults talked cheerfully about the pains of being a student and swapping humorous stories from past jobs. It didn't matter if they weren't that close in the past. What mattered was this feeling. This wonderful assurance that comes when you see a familiar face in the strange land that is "Adulthood". It was an amazing feeling. One Tai hadn't felt in so long.

"You know, at first I didn't eve recognize you Jun. I was all like, why does this beautiful girl know my name?" Tai said.

"Oh, so you think I'm beautiful." The slightly older girl playfully teased.

"Well I'd be lying if I said you weren't"

"Well aren't you in luck. I'm single right now and I'll be in town for the week. If you want to ask me out now is the perfect time." She offered before the two of them burst out laughing. Was she serious? Who knows and who cares? The point is that they were having fun just being themselves and that's all that mattered.

Damn the world and damn the wild digimon. It was a great change of pace and as Agumon stuffed his face with the second helping of scones Tai, for the first in a long time, felt normal. He felt so normal… and so wrong. This wasn't right and in his heart he knew it. He hated what he had to do. He hated that he would have to ruin this moment. To destroy this beautiful woman's laughing face. He hated that he had to wreck everything in his life.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He finally asked as her Jun's laughter began to die down.

"What?" She asked; her and Agumon easily catching on to the sudden change in Tai's demeanor.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He asked once more in a louder voice as he suddenly stood up and turned away from her. "You should hate me."

Jun stood up as well, her voice pleading with the young man, "Why would I hate you, Tai?"

"Because it's my fault! He never would have left it wasn't for me."

"Tai, stop blaming yourself. It was a motorcycle accident and you know it!"

"It wasn't an accident! He was m—"

"Tai stop!" Jun cried out as she clung to him from behind. Already he could feel the hot wetness of her tears as they began to stain his back. "Please, just stop. It's easier. It's easier for me if I believe it was an accident."

It was perhaps another 10 minutes before Jun had calmed down and starting looking much like her original self. The two said their goodbyes and Tai and Agumon silently watched as Jun disappeared from their sight down the subway tunnel.

"Did you hear that Agumon? It's easier to believe the lie. It's always easier to believe the lie." Tai said, though it seemed like he was talking more to himself than Agumon.

"Yeah." Agumon nodded as he looked up at the semi-blank expression on his partner's face. "Tai, we can't stop fighting can we?"

Tai gently petted Agumon's head as he simply said, "I'm sorry."

Agumon didn't know if Tai was apologizing to him or to someone else who wasn't there, but it didn't matter. The digimon understood. With those two words, Agumon understood everything Tai wanted to say.

End Chapter 7

* * *

><p>More Author Notes<br>It's sort of a talking head chapter. Bugs me a bit and I decided to rewrite it three times so you may notice a rough transition. So this chapter is high on revision list and there is a possibility of actual changes and not just corrections going on here. I really liked Jun from D2, but that's a minority opinion. I think it's established that Tai has some emotional and metal issues, minor as they may be. Though I think he's been a little to brooding recently, but no worries. This will be depressing Tai's last planned appearance for awhile. I also believe the back story I created is actually pretty dark so I look forward to reveling that to everyone bit by bit. I actually have the story planed out already to about chapter 10 which covers the first appearance of Metal-Growlmon. I've actually already started on chapter 8 so look forward to that soon. Later and thank you everyone who reviewed. I really do love and value your support.


	9. Chapter 9

I want to be a Hero, just One Last Time

Written by: Juggalomalice

Chapter 9

Free days, Tai sort of liked free days. At one point in time they were just devoted to finishing school work, now they were mostly devoted to hunting wild digimon. Agumon had left to get some hotdogs for them to eat, leaving him to plot out their remaining patrol route. He knew what the city needed was active 24 hour patrols, but 3 days a week was usually the best he could give it. As for the kids, well they thought wild digimon came maybe once a week or something. Like some kind of super sentai show. Tai grinned to himself as scanned the map before him.

"Like we're part time heroes."

The thought offered a small respite as he began to take notice of the huge amount of territory he wouldn't be able to cover tonight. Tokyo was a big city and the digivice's range only extended so far. Taking that into consideration, the thought of how many wild digimon may have managed to sneak in and hide under the radar almost frightened him. The worst part was that some digimon weren't content to just hide.

Several months ago three people were attacked and killed along the outskirts of the city. Officials thought some wild animal and wandered in from the nearby woods, but it wasn't an animal. If not for Agumon's nose there's no doubt more would have died. Sure, not all digimon were evil or violent, but recently…recently a lot of them were. Some were even almost fanatically anti-human.

Hell, last night there was a mysterious car wreck that claimed a life and injured two more. Police were blaming it on a drunk driver, but what if it wasn't? It was then that Tai thought came to him again. A thought he always pushed out of his mind, but kept returning to him like a bad copper. As he scanned the huge city map and noted all the areas he could be and the huge chunks of the city he could never be. The sheer colossal size of the city and the seeming futility of his efforts all falling down on his him and, as if the burden physically weighted down on him, he lowered his face into his hands and cradled his head.

"I can't do this anymore, not by myself," he mumbled as he reached into his pocket, searching as frantically as a man who wished no one to notice his plight could. He slowly pulled out his phone and regarded it.

"_Call them, Tai. They're still your friends. One phone call and they'll all come to help. Just ask," _He thought, his hand trembling as he opened up his contact menu.

A crestfallen smile crossed his face as reason once more took control of his panicked mind. That's right; he deleted all their numbers and changed his own. Self imposed isolation. It was what was best for everyone, especially for them. It kept them safe. It's not like they even had digimon anymore so they couldn't really help anyway.

"Hey Tai, what you looking at there?" Agumon's cheerful voice called from behind.

Tai quickly composed himself so that no sign of his distress was left on his face. "I was just checking my phone. I thought someone might have called me."

Agumon grinned as he handed his human partner a hotdog, "But no one ever calls you Tai. I sometimes wonder why you bother keeping that thing."

At that time, as if to prove Agumon wrong, Tai's phone vibrated once as a message appeared to signify a missed call. Both youngsters looked confusingly at the phone as Agumon looked up at Tai and said, "Tai are you a wizard?"

"No, but that was weird. It didn't ring. It was, like, as if whoever called just dialed the number and hung up before the first ring. Should I call back?"

"Don't bother. If they hung up before the phone even rang, they probably realized it was a wrong number," Agumon explained. "So what's the plan for the rest of the evening?"

Tai looked up at the orange sky and said, "It's getting late. We'll do a run by the park and if time allows we'll hit the warehouse district."

"But that's so far away. It'll be nighttime by the time we hit the park," The digimon whined.

"Yeah, but in is enroute to our last stop. Plus, there's a subway station nearby there that'll take us straight home if we can get there before eleven," Tai explained as he lead the way.

* * *

><p><em>Elsewhere<em>

Rika sat by her table as she read the message on her phone before throwing it to the side.

"I'm such an idiot."

She wasn't sure why she called him. To talk maybe, but about what she had no clue. Renamon had been missing for two days now and that had begun to bother her more than she was willing to admit. Part of her just wished someone could tell her it would be alright, but at the same time she hated the idea that she might appear weak. Asking to be coddled like that was just so childish.

"_Hey Miss Sourpuss, nothing wrong with appearing childish, especially since you're a child," _His voice sounded off her in mind.

"Damn it, now he's in my head!" She cursed as she laid her face on the table, finding the cool wood refreshing. She sat like that for several minutes as she thought about her situation. She would have stayed like that too if the familiar humming and blue light of her digivice hadn't caught her attention. In her anger she had thrown it in the garbage and now, within the dark room, the bluish light was even more demanding of her attention than ever before.

"No, I'm not ready yet." She whined as she placed her hands to the side of her head, but the blue light would have none of it. It continued to glow in response to a digital portal and it didn't care the least bit about her feelings.

* * *

><p><em>The Park<em>

"One, two, three, four, five…" Tai rattled on as he counted the stairs as he ascended them.

"You know, this park is close to where all those kids hang out. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already beat us to this one as well," Agumon commented sounding slightly annoyed. Not even half way to the park and the portal decided to open on them.

"True, but we still have to check it out just in case," Tai said as he turned off the path and cut across some trees in order to get to their destination faster. Already they could hear the sound of combat ahead of them, urging them to move faster. As the two pulled the foliage aside they were greeted with the sight of Renamon fighting a white winged digimon with the upper body of a woman which resembled a mythological harpy. The children watched from a small group nearby.

"Harpymon," Tai heard one of the boys say out loud. The college student simply rolled his eyes at the somewhat obvious namesake.

"Well she isn't Bird-Womon that's for sure," He scoffed.

"Hey, so you know I dated a Bird-Womon in high school," Agumon added, his snout lifted slightly into the air as if he was offended by Tai's joke.

Tai giggled as he pushed his digimon down, "You didn't even go to high school, now be quite, because this is serious."

With the humor out of their systems the two refocus once more at the situation as hand. It didn't' seem like they needed to do much though. Renamon had the situation under control, especially after she leapt into the air and delivered what looked like a 100-punch combo into Harpymon's face. The armored digimon crashed into the ground like a lead weight and Renamon stood before the collapsed figure in triumph. Tai lost interest at this point as he began to turn away. It was clear they weren't need here.

"Why isn't she delivering the killing blow?" Agumon pondered as he stared at the fox digimon's stoic figure. "Rika isn't giving any orders either."

Tai turned back briefly and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well just look," Agumon replied as he pointed a claw out, "They're just standing there like idiots. Renamon even has her eyes closed!"

Tai quickly turned back around and looked once more at the former battleground just in time to see the still figure of Harpymon twitch awake.

"Agumon, get out there now!"

Nothing else needed be said. Training and a lifelong bond took over as Agumon dashed out instinctively knowing what he was suppose to do. If everyone else wasn't paying attention to Harpymon as she sat up and prepared to unleash an attack on the unsuspecting Renamon they may have noticed the tiny orange blur that dashed out from the underbrush into the fray.

"Wind Seeker!" Harpymon cried out as she slashed her wings across creating her trademark green air blade. Renamon, whose eyes were closed till just now, didn't have the time to dodge as she braced herself as best she could for the attack to collide with her. To her surprise and confusion, the fox digimon found her self hitting the ground, but didn't feel any of the pain she had expected.

"God damn it Renamon, what did I tell you about keeping your eyes on the opponent?" The orange lump wrapped around her chest mumbled.

"Agumon, what are you doing here?"

"Saving your furry butt since you're not smart enough to do it yourself. Now move!" The orange dinosaur shouted as he pulled Renamon so they rolled to the side just in time to avoid the being skewered by Harpymon's razor sharp talons. Harpymon wasn't giving up so easily, forcing the two to continuously roll left and right to avoid the flying digimon's furious swipes.

Tai was regarded by the rest of the children and digimon as he stepped out from his underbrush and joined them. He nodded to them as he scratched the back of his head.

"You know, despite how strong Agumon is, this is a bad situation for even him. At this rate he may not even want to turn the tables," He commented as he observed the battle.

"What do you mean?" Takato asked.

"I'm just saying that if it was me, I might drag out the situation just so I could keep my head nuzzled in Renamon's chest," Tai jested with a knowing wink to the two young boys, though judging by their confused stares the adult humor may have flown over their heads.

"Mop-head, you are so useless sometimes!" Rika shouted as she picked up a sharp stick and charged into the fight without warning. As she rushed forward, vaguely, registering Tai behind her, she pulled back her stick like a dagger and stabbed it as deep as she could into Harpymon's back. The feathered digimon reeled in pain as she ceased her barrage against the two digimon and turned to refocus all her attention on the small girl who had stabbed her. A moment of panic and fear crossed everyone's mind as Tai pulled the girl down and shielded her body with his own. The lack of death or blinding pain though caused both humans to look up just in time to notice the Renamon's digi-volution into Kyubimon.

The appearance of the horse-sized, nine-tailed, fox digimon standing before them once more forced Harpymon to re-prioritize her targets. She flew backwards away from Kyubimon in order to get into an optimum attack range, but Kyubimon had no need for such things. The large fox spread out her tails and shouted,

"Fox Tail Inferno"

With almost blinding haste each of her nine tails lit up with sacred blue fire before launching out and slamming into Harpymon with machine gun like speed. The barrage of fire was too much for her to handle as she was immolated before finally exploding into digital dust.

With the immediate threat gone, Rika disentangle herself from Tai and approached Kyubimon. Some words were exchanged between the trainer and digimon, but Tai heard none of them. He simply allowed himself to fall backwards onto the stone pathway. That was perhaps the closest he had come to dying in sometime and all because a little girl couldn't take a joke.

"Tai?" Agumon questioned as he looked down at his partner.

"No worries buddy. Just coming to grips with the fact that this girl may be the death of me."

"Oh, I thought you were just processing the fact that we were totally useless again."

"Yeah, dying and being useless. Sounds like the usual night out on the town for us," Tai joked as the two shared a laugh. He sat up and observed the scene before him involving Rika and Renamon. Whatever walls existed between the two were slowly coming down. They weren't gone completely, but it was a start. "You know, I think they're going to be OK."

Agumon turned to the fox digimon and her trainer and nodded, "Yeah, I think so too."

"Oh no, she noticed us staring. Quick act, like you said funny," Tai suggested to Agumon as he forced out a laugh.

"Won't that just make her think we're laughing at her?"

"Shit, you're right. OK, new plan. Act nonchalant," Tai whispered as the two quickly stopped their laughing and gave their best efforts to appear indifferent to the events around them. If Rika noticed she said nothing as she approached them with Kyubimon at her side. She stopped a few feet away from them, her face redder than she would have liked.

"Hey," The young girl said as she cast her eyes slightly away. If she had any intention to say anything beyond that she took no initiative to say it.

Tai stared at her. He still couldn't quite figure this girl out just yet. One moment she's demanding all your attention and then she doesn't even bother contacting you for several days. Unsure of what he should do and growing wearily of the growing silence he replied, "Hey."

She looked once more at him as if to say something, before she looked away. Silence again. Even Tai was starting to grow embarrassed due to the prolonged and awkward hush. Unsure of what else he was to do or say Tai simply stood up and began to walk away. His actions apparently being the motivation Rika needed to finally speak.

"Thank you," She finally said. It was just a little bit too fast and tad too loud for it to be considered part of her normal speech pattern. It was almost like she forced it out at the last moment. Regardless, she seemed to be able to speak much more freely afterward. "Thank you for trying to protect Renamon and me."

"We didn't do much," Tai confessed as he stopped to face her. She looked tired, as if she hadn't been sleeping much recently.

"Still, um, thanks," She repeated, once more looking at her feet. She made the motion as if she wanted to say something else, but each time she stopped herself before she could say a word. Once more the awkward silence returned and Tai grimaced in mild annoyance. Where ever this girl's mind was right now it was stopping her from thinking normally. He closed the distance she had between them as he gently tilted her head up towards him.

"You know, now that I'm getting a really good look at you I noticed something."

"What's that?" She nervously asked, her eyes drawn into his. A strange fluttery feeling arising in her gut as her body tensed with energy.

"Your hair kind of makes your head look like a pineapple," And with those words, whatever spell that was gluing her eyes to his was broken and that fluttery feeling was destroyed. In its place was a new sort of energy.

"Damn it Mop-head!" She screamed as she grabbed his collar and began to shake him back and forth.

* * *

><p><em>Shortly afterward<em>

"Are you sure you don't want to head home with your friends," Tai asked Rika as he waved goodbye to the two other boys and their digimon.

Rika turned away, as if his concern for her was a bother. "I'll be fine Mop-Head. They live in the opposite direction from me anyway."

"You know, if you ask I'm pretty sure they both would jump at the chance the walk you home."

"That would just be troublesome." Tai simply grinned at her callous reply as they both began to head towards the stairs that lead down to the main park path.

"Hey quick question," Tai asked as he held up his phone, "Did you call me earlier?"

Rika's face flushed red as she looked away, "Maybe I did."

"Well if you did, make sure to leave a message next time. I promise I'll call you back. Anyway I'd offer to walk you home myself, but I still have something's to do to-," Tai ended his sentence abruptly as he grabbed Rika and pull her to the side behind a tree. His hand wrapped around her mouth to muffle her voice. "Quiet," He hissed at her as he peered around the corner down to the foot of the stairs.

There, with an almost menacing aura around him, stood a blond haired man wearing a black suit and sunglasses. It was clear he was watching Takato and Henry in the distance. Thankfully he made no motion that he noticed Tai and Rika standing just above him to the side. Tai eased his grip on Rika as he turned her to face towards him. Although her original attempt was to struggle and shout at him she quickly went silent when she noticed the serious look in Tai's eyes.

"I'm going to go down there. No matter what you hear or see I want you to stay here until I come back, understood?" Though he posed it as a question it was clear to Rika that this was an order. Whatever was going it was enough to flip the goofy Tai into serious mood. Rika simply nodded that she understood as he stood up and walked off.

Tai moved quickly and silently through the foliage so that he could flank the black suit man. Tai popped out about 30ft behind his target. He had already given Agumon orders and as he silently creped up behind the blond man he cast a glance upwards to ensure Rika was still hidden. No sign of her and that was good enough for him to proceed. He balled his fist up as he closed the distance.

"Hey buddy, you got a light," Tai asked as he tapped the man on the shoulder. Like any normal person the combination of a question and shoulder tap caused the man to turn around in confusion to face Tai and in that moment Tai's fist collided straight with his face. The punch was strong enough to knock the man unconscious for a few moments which was enough the time for Tai. Agumon quickly appeared at his side and they both easily dragged the dazed man deeper into the surrounding woods.

Yamaki was slammed onto a nearby tree where hew as jolted back into consciousness. The strong throbbing on his right eye acted as a constant reminder that he was just recently punched. He groaned out load as he struggled to bring his vision into focus taking note of his broken glasses which now loosely hung off his ear. An image of a young man with messy brown hair glaring death at him began to come into focus. It only took him several seconds to recognize the figure.

"Kamiya Taichi, it's been a long time. I heard you stopped seeing your therapist." Yamaki's comment was not appreciated as he was slammed against the tree behind him as Tai jammed his right forearm against the older man's throat.

"Cut the crap, Yamaki. Why are you following those two kids?"

Yamaki grinned, "Why Tai I don't know what you're talking about?"

Unfortunately for Yamaki, Tai was simply looking for an excuse to hit him, even an arbitrary one. His reply seemed to be a good enough reason for the college student as he punched the man in the stomach.

"Keep talking shit, you piece of crap. Just give me those reasons to beat you to a bloody pulp. Now again, what are you doing following those kids?"

Yamaki wasn't a masochist. Tai meant business and it was clear he was willing to beat it out of him. "I would think the answer was obvious Mr. Kamiya," a layer of venom lacing the name, "I was simply investigating a digital anomaly. I just happened to notice those children being present. What about you Mr. Kamiya? According to your non-disclosure contract, you agreed to no longer investigate these occurrences independently."

"It does matter why I'm here. What matters is I saw your ugly mug tailing some kids and when you take interest in children they tend end up dead."

The figurative jab was even more noticeable than the physical punch as it was the only thing that seemed to cause a chip in Yamaki's perfect emotional guard in the form of a subtle twitch.

"I told you before Kamiya, that was an isolated incident on behalf of the agency," he answered back through clenched teeth.

"Shove it! I don't have time for your cover up bullshit!" He grabbed Yamaki by the collar and pulled him to his face. "I'm only going to say this once Yamaki. If you so much as touch a hair on any of those children's head or their friends, and you know what I mean by that, I swear I will find a way to level that building you're so proud of. No get out of my sight you social parasite," Tai shouted as he spun Yamaki around and tossed him back onto the main pathway.

Yamaki hit the ground hard. Still he refused to look defeated as he picked up his battered body in the most dignified way possible and, acting as if he was never punched to begin with, walked off. After several steps he turned back to glare at Tai who was stepping out of the bushes to watch him. In what could only be called a declaration of war he reached into his pocket and pulled out another pair of sunglasses before putting them on to replace his broken ones. With that he turned away and walked off. Tai made sure to keep watching him till he was out of sight.

When Yamaki was out of sight Tai looked up the stairs only to see Rika staring at him. Her expression was some kind of mix between shock and just plain confusion. Chances are she saw the whole affair of him beating up a guy she's never seen before. Did she think he was the bad guy? Is that what she thought? The idea made him furious. He was still mad about seeing Yamaki, but from her place so far above him and couldn't help but feel like she was casting judgment on him.

"_I'm not the bad guy," _he shouted in his head as he marched up the stairs. As he closed the distance he noticed she seemed to flinch as if she was debating the idea of running. It didn't matter anymore as he finally reached her. He knelt down, grabbed her by the shoulders, and looked her in the eyes.

"If anyone, man or woman, wearing a black suit with sunglasses approaches you, you run. Understood?" He told her as he shook her by the shoulders to give emphasis.

"What?" It was the only sound that would leave her month. The only thing that should could think of in her confused state.

"I'm serious, Rika! If that man, or anyone like him, comes near you I want you to run. Run home, run to your friends, run to me, run anywhere that is any from them. Just run! Understood?"

Why? Why was it that when he finally chose to use her real name he sounded angry or was he perhaps scared? She didn't understand. Why did he refuse to tell her things?

"Understand!" he shouted waking her from her thoughts.

"Yes," she stammered out. Already she could feel her eyes tear up a bit in fear. Fear of him, fear for him, or was she simply fearful of what he knew? What was it about this mad that made her so scared?

"I'm scaring you. Why are you scared of me? I'm the good guy," He shouted, his eyes wide in realization as he suddenly brought her into a hug. "I'm the good guy," He said it several more times almost like he was trying to reassure himself more than her.

"I know," she said as she hugged him tightly back. "I know."

* * *

><p><em>Warehouse District<em>

_I was walking down the street when out the corner of my eye, _

_I saw a pretty little thing approaching me._

_She said, I never seen a man who look so all alone,_

_Could you use a little company?_

Tai quietly sang the verse to himself as he observed the fight before him from his seat on a wooden storage crate. One of many ultra flammable objects within this abandoned warehouse. After whatever was stopping digimon from crossing over was removed there was a sudden influx, as he predicted. Nothing serious, it just meant more work for him. He tapped his pen to the beat of the music from his headphones as he pulled out a small pocket notebook with his left hand. With practiced ease he flipped it to the desired page with one hand as he began to take down a few notes.

Tai didn't always give orders to Agumon. In fact, for many of the easier 'trash' Tai practiced a form of benign neglect and allowed Agumon to fight as he wanted. It allowed Agumon to release stress by treating the fight like a game and Tai was able to gather data on digimon and how to best use Agumon's preferred style and strengths in future fights. Low stress work for both of them. After the earlier events, its what they both needed right now.

"Mach Jab!" Agumon cried out as he released several quick punches at one of his many enemies, a small candle shaped digimon with two faces. The multiple strikes were too much for the tiny digimon as it was easily deleted. The orange digimon knew Candlemon wasn't really a threat by itself, but in packs of six, like they were in now… well let's just say that the Shinjuku Fire of 20XX wasn't caused by an electrical short like it was reported on the news..

"Bonfire!" several Candlemons shouted as they launched fireballs at Agumon.

"Mach Jab!" Agumon shouted once more as his claws swiped out in ever direction to extinguish the flames.

"Good work Agumon, but stay on guard. If you miss even one of those fireballs we could easily find ourselves standing in an inferno," Tai warned as he casually looked up from his notepad.

"Don't worry, I got it all under control," Agumon said with a dismissive tone as he grabbed a nearby Candlemon and brutally smothered the flame on its wick. The digimon struggled for a few moments before it went limp and turned to digital dust before it even hit the ground.

Tai nodded in acknowledgement as he pulled out his digivice. He pressed a few buttons on the side to scroll through the screens till it arrived at one that read, "Data Usage". The bar it showed was small, red, and read a meager 15%. 10% lower than normal. Agumon had insisted on lower data usage; something about trying to make it a challenge. It was more than enough for trash, but tended to drag out fights when dealing with large numbers like this. The four Candlemons left knew they couldn't take out their foe directly and had now surrounded Agumon.

"Melt Wax!" they all shouted as they each shoot out balls and streams of wax at Agumon from every angle. The wax then hardened instantly, freezing Agumon's legs to the ground.

"Agumon," Tai called, his voice sounding more scolding than worried.

"I can handle this," Agumon assured as he swatted fireballs aimed at him out of the air with ease.

"I know you can, but I still have a paper to finish for class so I kind of want to get home."

"How many pages?"

"Two and a half. Shouldn't take more than an hour, two at most, but I have classes in the morning, remember? I'd like to get some sleep tonight."

"Well what do you suggest?" Agumon asked as he continued to swat fireballs and struggled with his feet in an attempt to break free.

"I'm increasing your data usage to 25%," The college student answered back as he pressed a few buttons on the digivice. The red bar slowly increased with every press till it turned a light orange.

"That's overkill Tai," Agumon whined.

"Yeah, but it's also fast. We'll pick up pizza if you hurry," Tai offered as he put the device back in his pocket. The music once more slowly becoming the only thing he could hear as he once more sang along at a volume only he could hear.

_There ain't no rest for the wicked._

_Money don't grow on trees._

The difference was immediate as the wax that Agumon was struggling with before now easily broke for him. He no longer bothered defecting attacks either, instead choosing to take them full on as he charged his first target. Agumon's sharp claw easily impaled the malleable wax body of the Candlemon and then launched it at another enemy. Its body shattered into a million white data dots on impact and hurtling the second Candlemon towards the other two.

_I got bills to pay. I got mouths to feed._

_Ain't nothing in this world for free._

The three remaining Candlemons broke out into a panic as each one began throwing fireballs and wax at Agumon in endless waves. Agumon merely stood still and took every hit as he slowly focused. An orange aura briefly appeared over his body before he dashed forward.

_Oh no, I can't slow down. I can't hold back._

_Though you know I wish I could_

"Cross Fire!" The orange dinosaur yelledas he slashed out at his enemies. The cross shaped attack instantly slicing throw and deleting two of the enemy digimon. The third and last Candlemon probably received quite the surprised. Blinded by the spray of data from his two companions before a mouth full of razor sharp teeth burst into its vision severing its body in half. Agumon casually spit out the wax center allow it to fully delete.

_Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked,_

_Until we closed our eyes for good._

End Chapter 9

* * *

><p>Notes: Sorry about the delay. School has been a hassle and against all better judgment I tried to start a small business and threw a good chunk of money into. It's been stressful, but at least I'm not failing, yet. This chapter turned out to be rather long. By far the longest chapter in this series. I'm going to start submitting chapters for editing tomorrow, correcting the chapter numbers, as well as inserting proper credits for those who helped out. There are several and do apologize for not mentioning them. As I said, been busy. As for this chapter, well I feel like I forced it out a bit and already I feel my writing skill dulled a bit. I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting some basic grammar, but I figured you guys deserved this after waiting so long. I rewrote this chapter several times too. The last section was the remnant of a pervious version that I just liked too much to delete, so I pinned it at the end. Anyway, do enjoy the chapter and thank you for sticking with me through my problems.<p>

Another note: A lot of people have asked me about my other Digimon fanfic, Mirror Images. I really liked that story myself as anyone can tell it was much more verbose and descriptive in the wording. Probably because it was a straight romance without much else to distract from the story. Sadly, that reasoning left me with a big hole in the story in the form of the "Digital Anomaly" I wrote in. The reasoning just screamed 16 year old, lol. Now that I'm older I can't help but feel like it was stupid for hitching some much of the story on that. I'll probably go and re-write that whole thing if I can't figure out how to make it work. Until then, sorry for those of you who wanted to see it continued.


	10. Chapter 10

Full chapter update finally up! I got class in a bit so I rushed a tad and as always I need proper editing, but it's out at the very least. I'll see if I can get another chapter up this by this weekend. Do remember that I'm still looking for someone to make a cover image for this story and I'd be willing to give a small payment as well.

I want to be a Hero, just One Last Time

Written by: Juggalomalice

Chapter 10

The distant knocking was just that… distant. Someone was knocking on his door, but whoever it was it didn't involve him. It was something he could ignore if he tried hard enough. Hopefully it would stop and the subtle sound of computer fans spinning would once again be the only sound he could hear. That's usually how it worked when someone tried to knock on his door. The knocking turned to thumping, and the thumping turned to pounding, and the pounding soon turned to the annoying ringing of his phone going off. The young man groaned as he sat up and peeled off the sheet of paper that was stuck to his face. He briefly regarded the computer monitor before him. Various windows with blurry images that could or couldn't be digimon decorated it. He gave a sigh, the idea of losing another night of work due to sleep bothered him… that was until his phone went off again. That bothered him even more.

"Who the hell could that be that they're so dense," Tai screamed as he picked up he answered his phone. "What?"

"Open your damn door, Mop-Head. I've been knocking for 10 minutes," Rika shouted back with equal force.

With a pained groan and an aching back from him sleeping hunched over he walked out of the back room of his apartment, crossed the mine field that was his living room, and opened the door for the angry 10 year old. He was still dressed in the same cloths he was wearing last night while the young girl was wearing her usual outfit and carrying what looked like a grocery bag as she pushed her way past Tai and into his home. She set the bags on the coffee table and glared at him. The intense fire in her eyes was almost enough to cause Tai to forget how small this girl really was.

"What the hell took you so long?"

Tai gave a half-hearted shrug as he slowly began to open the blinds to finally let some light inside. "I got busy working on something?"

"Tai and work are not two words I would usually associate together, unless the words 'does not' came between them."

The harsh intonation behind her words would have been enough to cut the dignity of any other person, but Tai was starting to figure this girl out a bit. Though she did her best to not look him the face, her eyes were constantly shifting back to him as if she was trying to properly gauge his reactions to her comments. Her rudeness was just a result of her lack of social skills and her being brash and rough around the edges was just part of her natural personality. These things made it a bit easier to tolerate her bad personality and let's be honest Tai also had a bad personality too sometimes.

"I get it. You're mad. I'm sorry I forgot you were coming over today," A sigh escaped the young girl as she began to unpack several bento boxes from the bag she was carrying. "What's that you got there?"

"I made you and Agumon breakfast since you're always complaining how you two have no food and don't change the subject! I even made sure to call you last night to remind you I would be showing up this morning and you still forgot."

"I said I was sorry, don't be such a drama queen," He chided.

Rika froze as she glared at him. "I guess you're not that hungry after all," she replied as she began putting the food back into the bag.

Heaven forbid the loss of food and Tai was no heathen when it came to said commandment. He all but threw himself across the table, his large hands wrapping around the food containers along with Rika's own dainty digits in a manner that would allow him to cling on for dear life should the hand of god come by and take the meal away from him.

"I'm hungry! I really am. Let's just forget about that drama queen comment, shall we?"

Rika almost instantly pulled her hands away, if for no other reason than to hide the bright red blush that was appearing on her face. She regarded her hands for a bit, a tingle of warmth from Tia still flitted across her skin causing a strange tickling sensation. She wasn't sure if it was a real or imagined sensation, but she was sure she wanted to feel it again and she hated that fact.

"I get it. Apology accepted. Just eat already so we can get the day started," she quickly said as she once more began pulling the bento boxes out. Tai graciously took the box and opened it up. It was a pretty basic breakfast consisting of steamed rice, tamagoyaki, and tuskemono.

"Hey Agumon, wake up before I eat your share." It was unknown if the digimon heard his partner's call at first, but shortly afterwards an orange snout slowly arouse from the side of the table and began cautiously sniffing the air. It drifted towards Tai's food, which the college student guarded with a free hand and pushed the snout in the opposite direction, before it drifted towards his own bento. The snout stopped and began loudly sniffing the box before Agumon jumped out from under the table.

"Food!" He happily cheered as he unboxed his breakfast.

"I also made some miso soup," Rika quickly added as she broke out some bowls and a thermos.

Tai grinned, "I thought you said you couldn't cook."

"I've been learning. It's not a big deal," She answered, the smallest hint of pride in her voice.

Tai smiled at her attics, she probably wasn't even aware she was making them, as he picked up his own chopsticks and examined his food. Tai had to admit that Rika really outdid herself. The food looked great. As he picked up his chopsticks he partially wondered what caused the firecracker girl to actually show down long enough to attempt to learn the basics of cooking. He shrugged the thought aside as he took a bite of rice and noted its unusual hardness in certain parts. He arched his brow as he took a bite of the egg and it seemed a bit runny. He placed his chopsticks down and took a sip of miso soup and did his very best to keep his face from forming an expression. There was far too much salt, a common mistake for beginners.

He cast a subtle glance towards Agumon. The digimon had also caught on and though he continued to eat, it was with far less enthusiasm then before. From there his sight shifted to Rika, who quickly looked down at the table to avoid direct eye contact. Even a blind person could see how tense she was. Her back straight up and taut, her hands digging nervously into her lap, and darting eyes which constantly shot between the two of them as if searching for some physical sign of their thoughts. It was clear as day. This was the first real meal Rika had ever cooked in her life. It was silly of him to have not thought of it before, especially considering that less than a week ago this girl couldn't even toast bread.

His eyes met her eyes. She didn't look away this time. They locked on with his and the message sent was clear, _"Please, say something nice."_

Tai gripped his miso bowl and slurped the soup in one gulp almost as if he thought the salty broth would magically turn to alcohol and give him the courage he needed. Agumon said a silent prayer of respect for his best friend and partner who was just about to die from a salt overdose.

"_Tai, you are a greater man than me."_

Tai shut his eyes tightly as the salty liquid assaulted his sense of taste, "That taste is unique."

Rika flinched. Unique taste was usually code for barf terrible. Tai caught this and immediately worked to recover the small girl's confidence.

"Not to say it's bad. It's just clear you're still an amateur at this."

"Well I did my best to follow my grandmother's instructions, but I guess I'm just no good at this sort of thing." She looked down at the floor, feeling stupid for trying to do something so outside her skillset.

"Oh, don't be like that. It's takes time to develop a skill. It's not like you picked up your digimon cards and became the Digimon Queen overnight, right? As the saying goes, practice makes perfect."

The small red-head gave a half-hearted smile, "I guess you're right."

"I know I'm right. Hey, how about I teach you how to make my world famous rice omelette?"

Rika's attitude picked up at hearing this as she asked, "Isn't that the same dish you made for your sister when you returned from the Digital World?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?" He asked as he tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"Hmm, part of your life in chronicled in a 54-episode anime series, two movies, three light novels, and a five part manga. That's just the works for the original series." She felt rather embarrassed for knowing so much about the series.

Tai raised his brow in a quizzical manner. "Have you watched the whole series already?"

"No," she quickly stammered. "I've just been watching an episode or two in my free time since I've found out who you are."

"Oh," Tai replied as he finished off his runny egg. "Do you like it so far?"

She silently stared at him for a moment, her stare intensifying with every moment. "It's the single greatest animated series I've ever seen."

Tai silently stared at the girl in front of him for several seconds, unsure how to process her enthusiasm, before breaking out into laughter. "Be careful there Pineapple Head, I think your age is showing."

"What's that suppose too mean?"

"Well they did modify it a bit to appeal more to younger audiences. I admit I felt a little silly watching it once I was older," He confessed with a bit of a laugh.

"But it's really good," she said, leaping to the show's defense. "It really showed the hardships and challenges you all went through as well as the mental and physical growth you that was required for you all to make it home."

"You really think so?" Tai tilted his head up a bit as he held his chin in thought. "I'm not saying it wasn't good and everything you say is also true, but… it all felt so sugar coated. I remember a few times when I watched an episode I just had this sudden urge to throw a chair at the screen and yell, 'It wasn't that easy so stop taking like you knew what we were feeling'. We were what, eight, nine, maybe ten years old and all of a sudden we had to come to grips with this cold truth that we could one day die alone and far from our families. That time I had to return to the Digital-World was probably the hardest thing I've ever done, because I knew that the moment I let go of Kari's hand there was going to be a chance I would never see her again. Could you do that Rika? Could you give up the life you're living right now to fight in an unknown land and risk death for an ungrateful world?"

Her mind raced when the question was directed towards her. Was he questioning her resolve, her bravery? Of course she would choose to fight, just like Tai did in the cartoon. She would charge forward without a second thought to accomplish her dream with undoubting courage. Her answer came a split second after the question was asked of her.

"Yes, anything it takes to accomplish my goals."

She was proud of her answer and he smiled at her for it. Yet, when she saw his smile it brought her no joy. Instead, she felt her heart break at its sight. Sadness was the only thing that shined through that façade that one would dare call a smile and as she stared at it she felt moistness at the edge of her eyes creep in from parts unknown to her. He laid a gentle hand on the side of her face causing her heart to race and her breath to catch in her chest.

She instinctively reached for that large hand, grasping it with her own and she could not help but feel small compared to him. Rough, yet gentle, they were heavy against her flesh and for a moment she thought she could understand the great unspoken burden he carried with them. He leaned his massive frame down towards her and placed his forehead against her own. His breathing soft and in a voice much softer than his usual he said, "You answered too quickly. Even Great Hector, dressed for battle, took off his helmet once more to say goodbye to his child before marching to his death."

With that said he stood back up, his smile ever present, and patted her on the head before turning around to put his coat on. If any sadness lingered in his body it could not be seen through the brilliant smile he wore when he turned back to face her.

"Come on," he said, his usual confident personality having returned. "We have a lot to do on you first day of training."

She absentmindedly followed him out the door, but her sight never left him. She watched as he locked the door, looking so casual, so real, that one would never imagine the fantastical life he has lived. It was hard for her to understand. She thought she understood "Tai" at least she thought she had a good enough understanding of Cartoon-Tai, but that "Tai" wasn't this Tai. He resembled this Tai, but they weren't the same and every time Rika felt like she was taking steps to understand him he would do something like this and poof. The idea of Tai would vanish only to reappear further from her understanding than she ever thought possible.

As she watched him she couldn't help but whisper her thoughts out loud, "Just who are you?"

"Did you say something?" Tai asked as he turned back to face her.

"Nothing, I was just thinking out loud."

"I wonder if that's because you're a loud mouth girl."

"What did you say Mop-Head?"

"Crap, she heard me. Run for it, Agumon!" He shouted as the two dashed down the stairs as fast as they could. Obviously she chased them. That was part of the game, but deep down inside… she doubted if she could ever catch him.

* * *

><p><em>A short while later, inside a nearby corner market.<em>

"We will need this, this, some of this," Tai said as he handed Rika eggs, rice, and some cooking oil. Finally he picked up a Digimon strategy guide magazine from the book rack and threw it in the basket, "Can't forget this."

"A Digimon guide book? Why do we need that? We're not playing the game." Rika asked as she casually flipped throw the pages.

Tai glared at her as he sung, "Do you want to be the very best? Like no one was before?"

"Stop!" she interrupted. "I get it."

Tai laughed as he wiped a non-existent tear from his eye. "Sorry," He said. "I really couldn't help myself. In all seriousness though, digimon, in the most basic form of explanation I can think of, are just a series of digital parameters that determine base stats. Though you will meet unique ones, most will fall into the bell curve and that book is the most comprehensive guide of the average digimon, their stats, attacks, and common tactics. Read it and memorize it. Consider that your first lesson."

Suddenly that silly book felt much heavier in Rika's hands. Tai threw in a bag of cheese corn chips and they headed to the counter to pay. The female cashier smiled at them before she regarded Tai, causing her smile to instantly vanish. Her shoulder length black hair bounced a bit as she seemed to angrily scan their items. She stopped a moment when she scanned the book.

"I see you're still playing that stupid digimon game, Tai," She said with a hint of spite.

"I see you're still a conceited bitch, Karen," He replied back with a smile as he paid for the items. He quickly grabbed the bag and took Rika's hand, leading her out the store. "Come on Rika, you'll catch her bitchiness if you hang out around here too long."

"What was that about?" The ten year old girl asked once they were outside.

"You tell a girl you can't make it to a date because Meramon is burning down the children's hospital and they just lose it," he said as he began walking to their new destination.

"So you dated her?"

"Not really. I couldn't make it to the first date."

"Well, for the better. She wasn't very pretty, you know?"

"Is that a fact? Well mom always did say I had bad taste."

"She said that because you would latter your sushi in spicy mayo, not because of the girls you dated," Agumon clarified.

"So where are we off too now?" Rika asked.

"I was thinking of visiting Yamcha."

"What the heck is a Yamcha? It sounds disappointing," Rika commented as she followed at his side.

"Yeah, that's kind of why I gave him that name. Kind of like an in-joke." The small group continued to walk for some 20 minutes before Tai and Agumon suddenly turned down a rather dirty alleyway.

"Yamcha should be here somewhere," Tai commented as he looked inside one of the many garbage cans.

"Be on guard, Rika," Renamon warned as she materialized next to her tamer. "I sense another digimon nearby."

"Can you pinpoint it?" The fox digimon scanned the immediate area before focusing on a dumpster on the other end of the alleyway.

"There!" Renamon shouted before leaping into the air. "Diamond Storm!"

A serious of shards zipped forward, slamming into the dumpster with such immense force that it flipped over onto its side. A small green slug like creature crawled out of the heap of garbage and shredded metal.

"I think you got me there, little lady," the slug creature said as it coughed and staggered forward before dramatically collapsing onto the ground.

"Just what the hell do you two think you're doing?" Tai shouted as he pulled on Rika's and Renamon's ear. "Do you two really just go around attacking any digimon in sight?"

"I'm sorry. Just let go already," Rika pleaded. Even Renamon joined her tamer in begging for forgiveness as she found the rough pinching of her sensitive ears quite painful.

"Remember, not every digimon that exist is an enemy.

Agumon dashed to the fallen Numen. "Yamcha, are you ok?"

The Numemon known as Yamcha stood up and dusted itself off, "No problem. It'll take more than that to take me down."

"Sorry about that Yamcha," Tai apologized as he gestured to the Rika and Renamon. "You know how rookies are."

"Rookies, huh? Well say no more, I feel your pain Tai, both in a figurative and literal sense. What brings you to my neck of the dumpster?"

"Yamaki."

"A scary name and an even scarier person. I'm not sure what I can tell you though, especially on an empty stomach like now."

"I get it. Here's your pay," Tai replied as he tossed the bag of cheese snacks towards Yamcha.

"Oh Tai, you shouldn't have. It's just dangerously cheesy," the tiny digimon joked before ripping open the bag and smearing the contents on its face and month. After licking up every crumb left in the bag the digimon looked up at Tai. "Ok, I got some juicy info that will blow your goggles off. Rumor has it that Yamaki has recently captured a live digimon. A Darklizardmon I think."

"A living digimon, you say?"

"Yup, sedated and disappeared to his top secret labs."

"Any idea why?"

"That's the scary part, Tai. My sources on the inside say he's working a new piece or hardware and software. A device which only purpose is to delete digimon and now that he's got a digimon of his own, he's going to be testing it."

"Come on, Yamcha. I even made sure to buy the extra big bag for you. Give me the good stuff."

"Not enough you say? Well what if I told you that he plans on you using it to delete all digimon in the whole world?"

"Well I'd say that's stupid," Tai deadpanned. "My phone can barely get a sign in some places in the city; I find it hard to believe this device could get its signal worldwide."

"Tai, what if he plans on using that Darklizardmon as bait? Digimon are attracted to data, so what if it's like a big 'Digimon-Bug-zapper' and with every deleted digimon it just attracts bigger digimon," Agumon suggested.

"Possible, but even then there's no way it could have effects that extend so far around the planet. Still, with all that data floating around it could," Tai waved his hand in the air as if to physically dismiss a thought from his mind. "That's stupid. There's no way it can happen from our side, at least not without a Digi-vice and an open channel to the digital world. Still, we best be on stand by Agumon. At the very least we'll be needed for cleanup duty."

"Well thanks for the chips, boys. Now if you excuse me, I'm off to see a man about getting some new shoes," the green digimon said before it slithered off and down a swear drain.

"Thanks Yamcha, take care now," Agumon said as he waved goodbye the small Numumon.

"So that whole delete all the digimon in the world bit sounds kind of bad, doesn't it?" Rika asked after several moments of silence as she took a spot on Tai's left.

"Oh Rika, I forgot you were here," Tai said in genuine surprise.

The fierily red-head stamped her feet and shouted, "How could you forget I was here is such a short period of time and you're suppose too be teaching me. Is that fat head of yours filled with potted me or something?"

"SWACK!" said the heavy pages of the digimon game guide as it lightly hit Rika's crown, the pages lightly folding to the contours of Rika's spikey pineapple shaped head.

"Rule 1 of being a good Digi-Destined: You must always be alert and aware of your surroundings," Tai said in a lecturing tone.

"Fine," Rika pouted as she rubbed her head. "But do you have to hit on the head to prove your point?"

In response to her question Tai lightly flicked her nose.

"See, that wouldn't have happened if you were alert and aware of your surroundings. Rule 2: Tai can't always be there to tell you to always be alert and aware of your surroundings."

"I get it! I get it!" Rika complained as she rubbed her nose. "Geez, I sometimes wonder if you do this stuff on purpose just to make me mad." Tai gave a light laugh as he kneeled down so he was eye level with the younger girl.

"To be wholly honest," he began as he gently pulled her hand away from her nose. "I sometimes do try to make you mad, but that's only because you're cute when you're mad."

Those big eyes, that sincere smile, that mop of hair that only he could pull off. It was happening again. She was starting to melt, it was the only description she had. Her body heated up, her legs felt like jelly, her mind was turning to mush. There was no way she could keep looking at him. She quickly turned her back on him before she could lose her complete composure. She gave a brief glance over her shoulder only to once more see his radiant smile, before she looked away again.

"_He's like weaponized cuteness!" _she mentally screamed.

She tried to properly compose herself, but only managed to babble the first thought that came to her head, "Well you're kind of cute yourself."

"I am?"

"_Shit!" _

"Well it's been awhile since a girl has called me cute."

"Don't let it go to your head! It's only your smile that's cute. You hear me? Your smile!"

"Well someone has earned herself some extra omelet today," Tai declared as he stood back up and began to head home. "Come on Pineapple head. We'll eat, review the book, and discuss practical applications."

"You're an idiot, Mop-head."

"Who's the bigger idiot? The idiot or the idiot following the idiot?"

"I guess we're both idiots when you say it like that," Rika admitted as she followed alongside him.

"That's damn right we're both idiots!" the college student proudly shouted. "But we're idiots with the toughest digimon out there right. Fist-pound?" Tai said as he held out his fist towards Rika in an expecting manner.

Rika sighed into the palm of her left hand. It was hard to believe that she was getting so use to Tai's annoying 'man-child' attics. Still a whisper of a smile graced her face.

"Fist-pound," she said as she proceed to bump his fist with her own.

Annoying as they may be sometimes she didn't outright hate them either.

End chapter 10


End file.
